Database systems and interactive user interfaces for dynamic interaction with, and comparison of, digital medical image data

ABSTRACT

Database systems and techniques are disclosed for accessing data stores of digital medical images, processing the digital images, and displaying the digital images to efficiently provide information in an interactive user interface. The disclosure may advantageously provide efficient and rapid dynamic interaction with digital images accessed from one or more databases to enable user detection of differences between related digital images. Interactive user interfaces may be dynamically updated to provide rapid comparison of digital images. Further, digital images from multiple data sources may be automatically sorted by the system according to attributes associated with the images and rules and/or preferences of the user. In an embodiment the user may select a digital image from a first data source, and the system automatically determines and displays one or more comparison images from other image data sources. Images may additionally be automatically registered and/or matched to enable more efficient comparison and evaluation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/155,362, filed Apr. 30, 2015, and titled “SYSTEMS AND USERINTERFACES FOR DYNAMIC INTERACTION WITH, AND COMPARISON OF, MEDICALIMAGE DATA,” and also claims benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/171,866, filed Jun. 5, 2015, and titled “SYSTEMS ANDUSER INTERFACES FOR DYNAMIC INTERACTION WITH, AND COMPARISON OF, MEDICALIMAGE DATA.”

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.______, filed on Apr. 27, 2016, with attorney docket number MERG1.042A1,and titled “DATABASE SYSTEMS AND INTERACTIVE USER INTERFACES FOR DYNAMICINTERACTION WITH, AND SORTING OF, DIGITAL MEDICAL IMAGE DATA,” U.S.patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Apr. 27, 2016, withattorney docket number MERG1.042A3 and titled “DATABASE SYSTEMS ANDINTERACTIVE USER INTERFACES FOR DYNAMIC INTERACTION WITH, AND REVIEW OF,DIGITAL MEDICAL IMAGE DATA,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed on Apr. 27, 2016, with attorney docket number MERG1.042A4, andtitled “DATABASE SYSTEMS AND INTERACTIVE USER INTERFACES FOR DYNAMICINTERACTION WITH, AND INDICATIONS OF, DIGITAL MEDICAL IMAGE DATA.”

The entire disclosure of each of the above items is hereby made part ofthis specification as if set forth fully herein and incorporated byreference for all purposes, for all that it contains.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and techniquesfor accessing one or more databases and providing user interfaces fordynamic interactions with digital medical image data.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

Medical images are typically viewed by radiologists and otherphysicians, patients, and/or others by interaction with desktop computersystems with stationary monitors. When comparison of related images isrequired, subtle differences between images may be difficult to detect.For example, if a lung radiograph from two months previous, and acurrent lung radiograph are to be compared in order to determine if anychanges have occurred in the lungs over the previous two months, theviewer or reader typically views the two x-rays side by side. Forexample, the viewer or reader may have two monitors placed side by side,wherein each of the monitors displays a chest radiographic image.Alternatively, the viewer may view the two images side by side on asingle monitor. However, as those of skill in the art will recognize,identifying differences in related images in this manner is oftentedious and difficult. Some imaging modalities, such as CT and MRI,produce a large number of images, hundreds to even thousands of imagesper exam. In many cases, comparison of different series of images withinthe exam is required. For example, comparison of pre and post contrastimages to detect areas of enhancement or comparison of PET and CT imagesfor localization of activity is often necessary. Further, these oftenlarge exams may need to be compared to multiple prior exams to detectsubtle, progressive changes over time, for example to detect a small,growing tumor.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices described herein each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure, severalnon-limiting features will now be described briefly.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to database systems andtechniques for accessing data stores of medical images and displayingthe medical images to efficiently provide information in an interactiveuser interface. Previous systems for display of, and interaction with,image data were typically inefficient at enabling detection ofdifferences between images and evaluation of images. Disclosed hereinare systems that, according to various embodiments, advantageouslyprovide highly efficient, intuitive, and rapid dynamic interaction withmedical images (including two-dimensional images and images renderedfrom three-dimensional image data) to enable detection of differencesbetween related medical images and evaluation of medical images. Thesystems may include interactive user interfaces that are dynamicallyupdated to provide rapid comparison of images. Further, images frommultiple series and/or exams, and/or images from other sources, may beautomatically sorted (e.g., in one embodiment, interleaved) by thesystem according to attributes associated with the images and rulesand/or preferences of the user.

In an embodiment, the user may select an image from a series of a firstexam, and the system automatically determines and displays one or morecomparison images from another image series and/or exams. Imagesselected for comparison, and/or images that are sorted, may additionallybe automatically registered and/or matched to enable more efficientcomparison and evaluation by the user. Accordingly, a user may use thesystems described herein to more quickly, thoroughly, and efficientlyinteract with medical images, as compared to previous systems. Thefeatures and advantages noted above, as well as others, are discussed infurther detail below.

In various embodiments, systems and methods are disclosed for matchingrelated medical images and/or medical image series from multiple exams,automatically displaying medical images in particular arrangements, andautomatically sorting medical images from related exams. In one example,a user selects a medical image, and the system automatically identifiesrelated images and/or medical image series from 2, 3, or 4 (or more)other exams and displays the images next to one another in a gridarrangement, and/or sorts the images and displays them sequentially inan image pane.

Accordingly, in various embodiments, large amounts of data areautomatically and dynamically calculated interactively in response touser inputs, and the calculated data is efficiently and compactlypresented to a user by the system. Thus, in some embodiments, the userinterfaces described herein are more efficient as compared to previoususer interfaces in which data is not dynamically updated and compactlyand efficiently presented to the user in response to interactive inputs.

Further, as described herein, the system may be configured and/ordesigned to generate user interface data useable for rendering thevarious interactive user interfaces described. The user interface datamay be used by the system, and/or another computer system, device,and/or software program (for example, a browser program), to render theinteractive user interfaces. The interactive user interfaces may bedisplayed on, for example, electronic displays (including, for example,touch-enabled displays).

It has been noted that design of computer user interfaces “that areuseable and easily learned by humans is a non-trivial problem forsoftware developers.” (Dillon, A. (2003) User Interface Design.MacMillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Vol. 4, London: MacMillan,453-458.) The present disclosure describes various embodiments ofinteractive and dynamic user interfaces that are the result ofsignificant development. This non-trivial development has resulted inthe user interfaces described herein which may provide significantcognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previoussystems. The interactive and dynamic user interfaces include improvedhuman-computer interactions that may provide reduced mental workloads,improved decision-making, reduced work stress, and/or the like, for auser. For example, user interaction with the interactive user interfacevia the inputs described herein may provide an optimized display of, andinteraction with, image data (including medical images) and may enable auser to more quickly and accurately access, navigate, assess, and digestthe image data than previous systems.

Further, the interactive and dynamic user interfaces described hereinare enabled by innovations in efficient interactions between the userinterfaces and underlying systems and components. For example, disclosedherein are improved methods of receiving user inputs (including methodsof interacting with, and selecting, images), translation and delivery ofthose inputs to various system components, automatic and dynamicexecution of complex processes in response to the input delivery,automatic interaction among various components and processes of thesystem, and automatic and dynamic updating of the user interfaces (to,for example, display the relevant medical images). The interactions andpresentation of data via the interactive user interfaces describedherein may accordingly provide cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies andadvantages over previous systems.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements tovarious technologies and technological fields. For example, as describedabove, existing medical image interaction technology (including, e.g.,Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, Electronic Medical RecordSystems, and/or the like) is limited in various ways (e.g., image reviewis slow and cumbersome, comparison of images is inefficient, etc.), andvarious embodiments of the disclosure provide significant improvementsover such technology. Additionally, various embodiments of the presentdisclosure are inextricably tied to computer technology. In particular,various embodiments rely on detection of user inputs via graphical userinterfaces, calculation of updates to displayed electronic data based onthose user inputs, automatic processing of related electronic medicalimages, and presentation of the updates to displayed medical images viainteractive graphical user interfaces. Such features and others (e.g.,generation of 2D medical images from a 3D imaging volume and/or other 2Dimages, such as at automatically selected or user-selected planes) areintimately tied to, and enabled by, computer technology, and would notexist except for computer technology. For example, the interactions withdisplayed data described below in reference to various embodimentscannot reasonably be performed by humans alone, without the computertechnology upon which they are implemented. Further, the implementationof the various embodiments of the present disclosure via computertechnology enables many of the advantages described herein, includingmore efficient interaction with, and presentation of, various types ofelectronic image data.

The inventors have found that users using the system to flip throughmedical images (e.g., to analyze the images and perform diagnoses basedon the images) are faster (e.g., 15% faster or more) and more accuratethan users using traditional methods of comparing images.

In an embodiment, a method of viewing medical images from two or moreimage series on a display device coupled to a computing device comprisesthe actions of selecting a first image series comprising two or moremedical images, selecting at least one comparison image series, each ofthe comparison image series comprising two or more medical images,interleaving images of the first image series and the comparison imageseries in order to form an interleaved image series, and sequentiallydisplaying the images of the interleaved image series at a singlelocation on the display device.

In another embodiment, a method of viewing a series of medical images ona display device coupled to a computing device comprises the actions of(a) selecting a first image series for viewing, the first image seriescomprising a plurality X of medical images, (b) selecting a second imageseries for viewing, the second image series comprising a plurality Y ofmedical images, (c) displaying at a predetermined location on thedisplay device a Nth image of the first image series, (d) replacing theNth image of the first image series with a Mth image of the second imageseries at the predetermined location, (e) incrementing N and M, and (f)repeating steps (c) to (f).

In yet another embodiment, a system for enhancing a viewer's ability todetect differences between medical images in two or more sets of medicalimages comprises a display device, a graphical user interface displayedon the display device and comprising an image pane configured to displaya single medical image at a time, an image selection module to selecttwo or more sets of medical images, each of the sets of medical imagescomprising two or more medical images, and a user interface to receivecommands from a user, wherein in response to receiving a first commandfrom the user, the image pane sequentially displays a first medicalimage from each of the image sets and, after displaying the firstmedical image from each image set, the image pane sequentially displaysa second medical image from each image set. This process of displayingimages from images series alternatively continues through subsequentimages in the image series.

In another embodiment, a system of viewing medical images from two ormore image series on a display device coupled to a computing devicecomprises means for selecting a first image series comprising two ormore medical images, means for selecting at least one comparison imageseries, each of the comparison image series comprising two or moremedical images, means for interleaving images of the first image seriesand the comparison image series in order to form an interleaved imageseries, and means for sequentially displaying the images of theinterleaved image series at a single location on the display device.

In yet another embodiment, a method of forming an interleaved imageseries comprises selecting N groups of images, each of the groups ofimages comprising two or more images, determining a starting image ofeach of the groups of images, creating an interleaved image seriescomprising images from each of the selected N groups of images, whereinthe images of the interleaved image series are ordered so that an imagefrom each of the N groups of images is included in each sequential Nthgroup of images, and providing the interleaved image series to a userinterface for sequential display in a predetermined location of adisplay device.

In another embodiment, a method of viewing medical images from two ormore image series on a display device comprises: selecting a first imageseries comprising two or more medical images of a first portion of ahuman anatomy; selecting at least one comparison image series, each ofthe comparison image series comprising two or more medical images of thefirst portion of the human anatomy; interleaving images of the firstimage series and the comparison image series in order to form aninterleaved image series such that the interleaved images series isordered to include a single image of each of the comparison imagesseries after each single image of the first image series; andsequentially displaying the images of the interleaved image series at asingle location on the display device, wherein the method is performedby a computing system comprising one or more computing devices.

According to an aspect, the single location on the display devicecomprises a comparison pane.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises selecting astarting image in one or more of the first and comparison image series,wherein the starting images indicate respective first images from theone or more first and comparison image series that are to be included inthe interleaved image series.

According to yet another aspect, selecting the at least one comparisonimage series is performed by the computing device based on predefinedcomparison rules.

According to another aspect, the predefined comparison rules indicatethat image series with substantially the same name as a name of thefirst image series are selected for comparison with the first imageseries.

According to yet another aspect, the method further comprises:displaying a list of image series identifiers associated with one ormore image series that satisfy the comparison rules; and selecting oneor more of the image series identifiers, wherein the image seriesassociated with the selected image series identifiers are selected ascomparison image series.

According to another aspect, the sequentially displaying is controlledby an input device coupled to the computing device so that when apredetermined input is received by the computing device, the imagedisplayed at the single location is replaced by an adjacent image in theinterleaved image series.

According to yet another aspect, the predetermined input comprisesmoving a scroll bar on a mouse.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises displayinginformation regarding the medical image currently displayed at thesingle location.

According to yet another aspect, the method further comprises selectinga zoom level for each of the medical images in the first image series byadjusting a zoom level on one of the medical images of the first imageseries.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises selecting animage characteristic of the images in the first image series byadjusting the image characteristic on one of the medical images of thefirst image series.

According to yet another aspect, the method further comprises selectinga zoom level for each of the images in the comparison image series byadjusting a zoom level on one of the medical images of the respectivecomparison image series.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises automaticallyselecting an image characteristic of the images in the first imageseries according to differences in the image characteristics of theimages detected by the computing device.

In yet another embodiment, a method of viewing a series of medicalimages on a display device comprises: (a) selecting a first image seriesfor viewing, the first image series comprising a plurality X of medicalimages; (b) selecting a second image series for viewing, the secondimage series comprising a plurality Y of medical images; (c) displayingat a predetermined location on the display device a Nth image of thefirst image series; (d) replacing the Nth image of the first imageseries with a Mth image of the second image series at the predeterminedlocation; (e) incrementing or decrementing N and M; and (f) repeatingsteps (c) to (f), wherein the method is performed by a computing systemcomprising one or more computing devices.

According to an aspect, the method further comprises displaying a userinterface on the display device, wherein the predetermined locationcomprises a comparison pane within the user interface.

According to another aspect, the values of N and M are selected by auser of the computing device.

According to yet another aspect, the medical images comprise at leastone of X-ray, mammogram, MRI, radiograph, computed tomography, magneticresonance imaging, Ultrasound, positron emission tomography scan,angiogram, and nuclear scan images.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: selecting athird image series for viewing, the third image series comprising aplurality Z of medical images; replacing the Mth image of the secondimage series with a Lth image of the third image series at thepredetermined location; and incrementing or decrementing L.

According to yet another aspect, timing of the actions of displaying andreplacing is controlled by an input device to the computing system,wherein the user may determine a speed at which images from the firstand second image series are alternatively displayed at the predeterminedlocation using the input device.

According to another aspect, the input device comprises at least one of:a mouse, a trackball, and a keyboard.

In another embodiment, a computerized method comprises: transmittingfrom a computing device to a display device data associated with two ormore image panes, each depicting an image from a respective imageseries; receiving at the computing device selections of at least twoimage panes from an input device, in response to said receiving,interleaving by the computing device the images of the image seriesassociated with the selected at least two selected image panes in orderto form an interleaved image series; and initiating by the computingdevice display of an image of the interleaved image series in acomparison pane on the display device.

According to an aspect, a user of the computing device selects the imagepanes by clicking a mouse button after moving a pointer onto each of theimage panes.

According to another aspect, a user of the computing device selects theimage panes by clicking a mouse button after moving a pointer onto aborder between the image panes.

According to yet another aspect, the comparison pane coverssubstantially all of a display area of the display device.

According to another aspect, the comparison pane is sized substantiallyequal to a size of the image panes.

According to yet another aspect, the displaying action comprisesdisplaying from 2 to 40 image panes.

In yet another embodiment, a method of viewing medical images from twoor more image series on a display device coupled to a computing device,wherein the method is performed by the computing device comprises:automatically selecting at least two comparison image series based onpredefined user rules; interleaving images of the at least twocomparison image series in order to form an interleaved image series;and sequentially displaying the images of the interleaved image seriesin a comparison pane on the display device.

According to an aspect, the user rules define criteria for selectingimage series for comparison.

According to another aspect, the user rules include criteria related toDICOM header file information associated with medical images, whereincomparison image series are selected according to DICOM header fileinformation.

In yet another embodiment, a method of viewing medical images from twoor more image series on a display device, wherein the method isperformed by a computing system comprising one or more computing devicescomprises: selecting a first image series comprising two or more medicalimages; selecting at least one comparison image series, each of thecomparison image series comprising two or more medical images;interleaving images of the first image series and the comparison imageseries in order to form two or more interleaved image series; andsequentially displaying the images of each of the interleaved imageseries in corresponding two or more comparison panes that areconcurrently displayed on the display device.

According to an aspect, images in each respective interleaved imageseries are each of a particular projection so that a first interleavedimage series comprises images of a first projection and a secondinterleaved image series comprises images of a second projection.

In another embodiment, a computing system comprises: an electronicdisplay device; an input device; a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium configured to store software instructions; and one ormore computing devices in communication with the electronic displaydevice, the input device, and the non-transitory computer-readablemedium, the one or more computing devices configured to execute thesoftware instructions in order to: receive, at the computing system, aselection of a first image series comprising two or more medical images;receive, at the computing system, a selection of a second image seriescomprising two or more medical images obtained at a different time thanthe first image series; determine a first medical image of the firstimage series and a second medical image of the second image series thatdepict a same anatomical position; display the first medical image ofthe first image series at a first position on the electronic displaydevice of the computing system; and in response to receiving a firstcommand from a user of the computing system via the input device,replace at the same first position on the display the first medicalimage with the second medical image of the second image series; and inresponse to receiving a second command from the user of the computingdevice via the input device, replace the second medical image with thefirst medical image.

According to an aspect, the first medical image of the first imageseries is not an initial image of the first image series and/or thesecond medical image of the second image series is not an initial imageof the second image series.

According to another aspect, the first command is triggered in responseto input from one or more of a keyboard, a mouse, or a touchpad.

According to yet another aspect, the computing system further comprises:wherein the first command is triggered by the user pressing a button ofa mouse or other input device and the second command is triggered by theuser releasing the button.

In yet another embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, at a computingdevice, a selection of a first image series comprising two or moremedical images; receiving, at the computing device, a selection of asecond image series comprising two or more medical images obtained at adifferent time than the first image series; displaying a first medicalimage of the first image series at a first position on a display deviceof the computing device; in response to receiving a first command from auser of the computing device via an input device, replacing at the samefirst position on the display, by the computing device, the firstmedical image with a second medical image of the second image series;and in response to receiving a second command from the user of thecomputing device via the input device, replacing the second medicalimage with the first medical image, wherein the first command istriggered by the user moving a scroll wheel of a mouse or other inputdevice in a first direction and the second command is triggered by theuser moving the scroll wheel in a second direction that is opposite thefirst direction.

According to an aspect, the first image series is acquired at a firsttime associated with a first exam of a patient and the second imageseries is acquired at a later time associated with a second exam of thepatient.

According to another aspect, the first images series and the secondimage series are related so that when images of the image series arecompared, meaningful distinctions may be detected.

According to yet another aspect, the first image series and second imageseries are acquired using a common type of imaging device.

According to another aspect, the first image series and second imageseries are acquired using different types of imaging devices.

In another embodiment, a method comprises: displaying, by a computingdevice comprising hardware, a medical image of a first image series at afirst position on a display device of the computing device; in responseto receiving a first command from a user of the computing device via aninput device, replacing, by the computing device, the medical image ofthe first image series acquired during a first time period with acomparison medical image of a second image series acquired during asecond time period different than the first time period; and in responseto receiving a second command from the user via the input device,replacing, by the computing device, the comparison medical image of thesecond image series with the medical image of the first image series,wherein the first command is triggered by the user moving a scroll wheelof the input device in a first direction and the second command istriggered by the user moving the scroll wheel in a second direction thatis opposite the first direction.

According to an aspect, at least one of the first image series or thesecond image series is automatically selected by the computing device.

According to another aspect, at least one of the first image series orthe second image series is automatically selected based on DICOM headerinformation associated with the image series.

According to yet another aspect, at least one of the first image seriesor the second image series is automatically selected based on filenamesassociated with the image series.

According to another aspect, the comparison medical image is selectedfrom a plurality of images in the second image series such that thecomparison image and the medical image of the first image series depictthe same anatomical position.

According to yet another aspect, the computing device automaticallyselects the comparison medical image.

According to another aspect, the computing device receives an indicationof one or more of the medical image and/or the comparison medical imagefrom the user of the computing device.

According to yet another aspect, a first value associated with a firstimage characteristic of the medical images of the first image series isdifferent than a second value associated with the first imagecharacteristic of the second image series.

According to another aspect, the first image characteristic comprisesone or more of size, rotation, location, zoom level, cropping, or colorcharacteristics.

According to yet another aspect, the first value associated with thefirst image characteristic of the first image series or the second valueassociated with the first image characteristic of the second imageseries is automatically adjusted such that the first value and thesecond value are equivalent.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises receivinginput from the user indicating adjustments to at least a centering and awindow level of one or more of the medical image of the first imageseries or the comparison medical image of the second image series.

According to yet another aspect, one or more values associated withimage characteristics of the comparison medical image are adjusted inresponse to user input via the input device.

According to another aspect, the one or more values associated with theimage characteristics that are adjusted for the comparison medical imageare applied to at least some other images of the second image series.

According to yet another aspect, one or more values associated withimage characteristics of images of the first and/or second image seriesare automatically adjusted so that similar anatomical features depictedin images of the first and second image series are aligned.

According to another aspect, the first command comprises positioning acursor near a border between the first medical image of the first imageseries and the second medical image of the second image series.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring software code is disclosed that is configured for execution by acomputing system in order to cause the computing system to performoperations including: displaying a medical image of a first image seriesat a first position on a display device of the computing device;displaying a medical image of a second image series at a second positionon the display device, wherein the first image series and the secondimage series were obtained at different times; in response to receivinga first command from a user of the computing device via an input device:replacing the medical image of the first image series with a comparisonmedical image of a third image series; and replacing the medical imageof the second image series with a comparison medical image of a fourthimage series; and in response to receiving a second command from theuser via the input device: replacing the comparison medical image of thethird image series with the medical image of the first image series; andreplacing the comparison medical image of the fourth image series withthe medical image of the second image series, wherein the first commandis triggered by the user moving a scroll wheel of the input device in afirst direction and the second command triggered by the user moving thescroll wheel in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

According to an aspect, the software code is further configured forexecution in order to cause the computing system to perform operationsincluding: selecting the first and third image series for comparisonbased on one or more similarities in DICOM information of filesassociated with the first and third image series.

According to another aspect, the first medical image and the secondmedical image are each of a same modality such that differences betweenthe first medical image and the second medical image are detectable bythe user viewing the replacement of the first medical image by thesecond medical image.

According to yet another aspect, the first image series is acquired at afirst time associated with a first exam of a patient and the secondimage series is acquired at a later time associated with a second examof the patient.

According to another aspect, the one or more computing devices arefurther configured to execute the software instructions in order to:automatically adjust one or more characteristics of the first medicalimage and/or the second medical image such that common anatomicalfeatures shown in each of the first and second medical images arealigned.

According to yet another aspect, the first medical image of the firstimage series is not an initial image of the first image series and/orthe second medical image of the second image series is not an initialimage of the second image series.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: automaticallyadjusting, by the computing device, a value associated with a particularcharacteristic of each of the first medical image and the second medicalimage such that the values are equivalent.

In another embodiment, a computing system comprises: a display deviceconfigured to render images for viewing by one or more users; an inputdevice configured to receive input from a user of the computing system;one or more hardware processors configured to execute software code inorder to direct display of images on the display device; and a modulecomprising software code stored on one or more non-transitory computerreadable mediums, the software code configured for execution by the oneor more processors in order to: determine an image of a first imageseries and a comparison image of a second image series that depict asame anatomical position; cause the display device to display the imageof the first image series at a first position; and in response todetecting a predetermined input from the user of the computing devicevia the input device, cause the display device to replace the image ofthe first image series with the comparison image of the second imageseries, wherein images of the first image series and images of thesecond image series were generated by imaging equipment at differenttimes, on different dates, and/or during different time periods.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring software code configured for execution by a computing system inorder to cause the computing system to perform operations is disclosed,the software code comprising: a first module configured to receive inputfrom a user of the computing system via one or more input devices and todetect a predetermined input from the user; a second module configuredto: determine an image of a first image series and a comparison image ofa second image series that depict a same anatomical position; cause adisplay device of the computing system to display the image of the firstimage series at a first position on the display device; and in responseto the first module detecting the predetermined input, cause the displaydevice of the computing system to replace the image of the first imageseries with the comparison image of the second image series, wherein thefirst image series and the second image series were originally generatedat different times, on different dates, and/or during different timeperiods.

In another embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, at a computingsystem, at least a first plurality of images comprising a first imageseries and a second plurality of images comprising a second imageseries, wherein the first plurality of images and the second pluralityof images together comprise a set of images; determining, by thecomputing system, at least a first characteristic associated with eachof the images of the set of images; determining, by the computingsystem, at least a second characteristic associated with each of theimages of the set of images; determining, by the computing system, anordering of the images of the set of images based on: first: values ofthe first characteristic associated with respective images, and second:values of the second characteristic associated with respective images;displaying at a location of a display a first image of the set of imagesthat is first in the determined ordering of the images; and in responseto input from a user of the computing system indicating a direction ofmovement within the set of images, replacing the first image or otherimage displayed at the same location of the display with another imagethat is adjacent to the first image or other image displayed at the samelocation of the display based on the determined ordering of the images.

According to an aspect, the first characteristic comprises a DICOMheader information item.

According to another aspect, the first characteristic comprises at leastone of a type of image, an area imaged, a clinical indication, a sourceof image, a display device, or a user.

According to yet another aspect, the first characteristic comprises atleast one of brightness, contrast, size, opacity map, rotation,location, zoom level, cropping, morphing, or color.

According to another aspect, the first characteristic comprises ananatomical position depicted by the image.

According to yet another aspect, the second characteristic comprises atime at which the image was obtained.

According to another aspect, the first characteristic comprises at leastone of a modality or an application of contrast agent.

According to yet another aspect, the second characteristic comprises atime at which the image was obtained.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: automaticallyadjusting, by the computing system, at least one characteristicassociated with the first image of the set of images such that the firstimage is better aligned with the second image of the set of images.

According to yet another aspect, the first and second images areadjacent to one another in the ordering of the images.

According to another aspect, an image characteristic of the second imageis adjusted such that the information displayed in the first image andthe second image more closely matches, and differences between the firstimage and the second medical image are more easily detectable by theuser.

According to yet another aspect, the image characteristic comprises atleast one of brightness, contrast, size, opacity map, rotation,location, zoom level, cropping, morphing, or color.

According to another aspect, the computing system is configured toprovide the input in response to the user moving a scroll wheel of amouse or other input device in a first direction.

According to yet another aspect, the method further comprises: inresponse to a second input from the user of the computing systemindicating an opposite direction of movement within the set of images,replacing the second image displayed at the same location of the displaywith the first image or other image that is adjacent to the second imageat the same location of the display based on the determined ordering ofthe images.

According to another aspect, the computing system is configured toprovide the input in response to the user moving a scroll wheel of amouse or other input device in a first direction.

According to yet another aspect, the computing system is configured toprovide the second input in response to the user moving a scroll wheelof a mouse or other input device in a second direction.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: determining,by the computing system, a first characteristic associated with thefirst image series; identifying, by the computing system, the secondimage series for comparison with the first image series, wherein thesecond image series is identified based on the second image series beingassociated with a second characteristic have a same value as the firstcharacteristic of the first image series.

According to yet another aspect, the first and second characteristicscomprise at least one of DICOM header information items, filenames, ormodalities.

In yet another embodiment, a computing system comprises: an electronicdisplay; an input device; a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium configured to store software instructions; and one or morecomputer processors in communication with the electronic display, theinput device, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the oneor more computer processors configured to execute the softwareinstructions in order to cause the computing system to: receive at leasta first plurality of images comprising a first image series and a secondplurality of images comprising a second image series, wherein the firstplurality of images and the second plurality of images together comprisea set of images; determine at least a first characteristic associatedwith each of the images of the set of images; determine at least asecond characteristic associated with each of the images of the set ofimages; determine an ordering of the images of the set of images basedon: first: values of the first characteristic associated with respectiveimages, and second: values of the second characteristic associated withrespective images; display at a location of a display a first image ofthe set of images that is first in the determined ordering of theimages; and in response to input from a user of the computing systemindicating a direction of movement within the set of images, replace thefirst image or other image displayed at the same location of the displaywith another image that is adjacent to the first image or other imagedisplayed at the same location of the display based on the determinedordering of the images.

Another embodiment comprises a method of displaying medical data. Themethod comprises receiving a plurality of medical images of a firstmedical examination and receiving at least one user-defined matchingrules, at least one of user-defined matching rules identifying selectioncriteria for the medical images. The method also comprises selectingmedical images that satisfy the selection criteria of the user-definedrules, thereby matching medical images according to user-specific rulesand receiving at least one user-defined display rule, at least one ofuser-defined display rules identifying a display preference with respectto selected medical images. The method also comprises displaying theselected medical images according to the identified display preferences,thereby allowing matched medical images to be visually compared anddisplayed in a manner that is suitable to the user's preferences.

Yet another embodiment comprises a method displaying medical data. Themethod comprises receiving a plurality of medical images of a firstmedical examination and receiving a plurality of medical images of asecond medical examination. The method also comprises receiving at leastone user-defined matching rule, at least one of user-defined matchingrules identifying selection criteria for matching the medical images ofthe first and second medical examinations. The method also comprisesselecting medical images that satisfy the selection criteria of theuser-defined rules, thereby matching medical images of the first medicalexamination with medical images of the second examination according touser-specific rules. The method also comprises receiving a plurality ofuser-defined display rules, at least one of user-defined display rulesidentifying a display preference with respect to selected medicalimages. The method also comprises displaying the selected medical imagesaccording to the identified display preferences, thereby allowingmatched medical images to be visually compared and displayed in a mannerthat is suitable to the user's preferences.

Another embodiment comprises a system for displaying medical data. Thesystem comprises an electronic device being configured to receive aplurality of medical images of a first medical examination. Theelectronic device is configured to receive a plurality of user-definedmatching rules. At least one of user-defined matching rules identifyselection criteria for the medical images. The electronic device isfurther configured to select medical images that satisfy the selectioncriteria of the user-defined rules, thereby matching medical imagesaccording to user-specific rules. The electronic device is furtherconfigured to receive at least one user-defined display rules. At leastone of user-defined display rules identify a display preference withrespect to selected medical images. The electronic device is furtherbeing configured to display the selected medical images according to theidentified display preferences, thereby allowing matched medical imagesto be visually compared and displayed in a manner that is suitable tothe user's preferences.

In yet another embodiment, a method of displaying medical datacomprises: receiving a plurality of medical images of a first medicalexamination; receiving a plurality of medical images of a second medicalexamination; receiving at least one user-defined matching rule, at leastone of the user-defined matching rules identifying selection criteriafor matching the medical images of the first and second medicalexaminations; selecting medical images that satisfy the selectioncriteria of the user-defined rules, thereby matching medical images ofthe first medical examination with medical images of the second medicalexamination according to the user-defined matching rules; receiving aplurality of user-defined display rules, at least one of user-defineddisplay rules identifying one or more display preference with respect toselected medical images; and displaying the selected medical imagesaccording to the one or more identified display preference, therebyallowing matched medical images to be visually displayed in a mannerthat is suitable to the user's preferences, wherein at least some of themethod is performed by a computing system comprising one or morecomputing device.

According to an aspect, the medical images of the first medicalexamination and of the second medical examination are each grouped inone or more image series.

According to another aspect, the method additionally comprises namingthe matched medical images according to at least one user-defined namingrule.

According to yet another aspect, the method additionally comprisesnaming the medical images according to at least one user-defined namingrule prior to the selecting action.

In another embodiment, a system comprises: an electronic deviceconfigured to receive a plurality of medical images of a first medicalexamination, the electronic device being further configured to receive aplurality of medical images of a second medical examination, theelectronic device being further configured to receive a plurality ofuser-defined matching rules, at least one of user-defined matching rulesidentifying selection criteria for matching the medical images of thefirst and second medical examinations, the electronic device beingfurther configured to select medical images that satisfy the selectioncriteria of the user-defined rules, thereby matching medical images ofthe first medical examination with medical images of the second medicalexamination according to the user-defined matching rules, the electronicdevice being further configured to receive a plurality of user-defineddisplay rules, at least one of the user-defined display rulesidentifying a display preference with respect to selected medicalimages, and the electronic device being further configured to displaythe selected medical images according to the identified displaypreference[[s]], thereby allowing matched medical images to be visuallydisplayed in a manner that is suitable to the user's preferences.

According to an aspect, the medical images of the first medicalexamination and of the second medical examination are each grouped inone or more image series.

In yet another embodiment, a method of displaying medical datacomprises: receiving a plurality of medical images of a first medicalexamination; receiving at least one user-defined matching rule includingat least one user-defined matching rule identifying selection criteriafor selecting medical images; selecting medical images that satisfy theselection criteria of the user-defined matching rules, thereby matchingmedical images according to user-specific rules; receiving at least oneuser-defined display rule including at least one user-defined displayrule identifying a display preference with respect to the selectedmedical images; and displaying the selected medical images according tothe identified display preference, thereby allowing the matched medicalimages to be visually compared and displayed in a manner that issuitable to user preferences, wherein at least some of the actions areperformed by a computer system having one or more processors.

According to an aspect, the method additionally comprises naming thematched medical images according to at least one user-defined namingrule.

According to another aspect, the method additionally comprises namingthe medical images according to at least one user-defined naming ruleprior to said selecting.

According to yet another aspect, the medical images are grouped in oneor more image series.

According to another aspect, the method additionally comprises:receiving a second plurality of medical images of a second medicalexamination; and selecting medical images of the first medicalexamination and the second medical examination that satisfy theselection criteria of the user-defined rules, thereby allowing a user tomatch medical images of the first medical examination with medicalimages of the second medical examination according to user-specificrules.

According to yet another aspect, the method additionally comprises:receiving at least one second user-defined display rule, the seconduser-defined display rule identifying a display preference with respectto matched medical images of the first and second examinations; anddisplaying the matched medical images in accordance with the seconduser-defined display rules.

According to another aspect, the method additionally comprisesdisplaying the matched medical images in accordance with theuser-defined display rules.

According to yet another aspect, the method additionally comprises:receiving a plurality of second user-defined matching rules, at leastone of the user-defined matching rules identifying second selectioncriteria for matching the selected medical images of the firstexamination with medical images of a second medical examination; andselecting medical images of the first medical examination and the secondmedical examination that satisfy the second selection criteria of theuser-defined rules, thereby allowing a user to match medical images ofthe first medical examination with medical images of the second medicalexamination according to user-specific rules.

According to another aspect, the method additionally comprises:receiving a plurality of second user-defined display rules, at least oneof the second user-defined display rules identifying a displaypreference with respect to matched medical images of the first andsecond examinations; and displaying the matched medical images inaccordance with the second user-defined display rules.

According to yet another aspect, the method additionally comprisesdisplaying the matched medical images in accordance with theuser-defined display rules.

In yet another embodiment, a system for displaying medical datacomprises: an electronic device configured to receive a plurality ofmedical images of a first medical examination, the electronic devicebeing further configured to receive a plurality of user-defined matchingrules, at least one of the user-defined matching rules identifyingselection criteria, the electronic device being further configured toselect medical images that satisfy the selection criteria of theuser-defined matching rules, thereby matching medical images accordingto user-specific rules, the electronic device being further configuredto receive a plurality of user-defined display rules, at least one ofthe user-defined display rules identifying a display preference withrespect to selected medical images; and the electronic device beingfurther configured to display the selected medical images according tothe identified display preferences, thereby allowing matched medicalimages to be visually compared and displayed in a manner that issuitable to user preferences.

According to an aspect, the medical images are grouped in one or moreimage series.

According to another aspect, the electronic device is configured toreceive a second plurality of medical images of a second medicalexamination and select medical images of the first medical examinationand the second medical examination that satisfy the selection criteriaof the user-defined rules, thereby allowing a user to match medicalimages of the first medical examination with medical images of thesecond medical examination according to user-specific rules.

According to yet another aspect, the electronic device is furtherconfigured to receive a plurality of second user-defined display rules,at least one of the second user-defined display rules identifying adisplay preference with respect to matched medical images of the firstand second examinations; and wherein the electronic device is furtherconfigured to display the matched medical images in accordance with thesecond user-defined display rules.

According to another aspect, the electronic device is further configuredto display the matched medical images in accordance with theuser-defined display rules.

According to yet another aspect, the electronic device is configured toreceive a plurality of second user-defined matching rules, at least oneof the user-defined matching rules identifying second selection criteriafor matching the selected medical images of the first examination withmedical images of a second medical examination; and wherein theelectronic device is configured to select medical images of the firstmedical examination and of second medical examination that satisfy thesecond selection criteria of the user-defined rules, thereby allowing auser to match medical images of the first medical examination withmedical images of the second medical examination according touser-specific rules.

According to another aspect, the electronic device is configured toreceive a plurality of second user-defined display rules, at least oneof the second user-defined display rules identifying a displaypreference with respect to matched medical images of the first andsecond examinations, and wherein the electronic device is configured todisplay matched medical records in accordance with the seconduser-defined display rules.

According to yet another aspect, the electronic device is configured todisplay matched medical records in accordance with the user-defineddisplay rules.

In another embodiment, a computing system comprises: one or morehardware computer processors; and one or more software modulesconfigured for execution by the one or more computer processors to causethe computing system to: in response to user input, automatically:select a first image series and a second image series each associatedwith a particular patient and including images of a particular modality;determine an order for display of images of the first image series andthe second image series, wherein the order is based on anatomicalpositions of the patient depicted in respective images; and displayimages of the first image series and the second image series, one at atime in a single image pane, in the determined order.

According to an aspect, the order is further based on one or more ofdate or time of acquisition of respective displayed images, lateralityof images, or view of images.

According to another aspect, the user input is received from an inputdevice in communication with the computing system.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more software modules arefurther configured to cause the computing system to: select images ofthe first image series and the second image series each associated witha different particular modality; determine a second order for display ofthe selected images of the first image series and the second imageseries, wherein the second order is based on anatomical positions of thepatient depicted in respective selected images; and display the selectedimages of the first image series and the second image series, one at atime in a single second image pane, in the determined second order.

According to another aspect, the computing system further comprises:registering, by the computing system, images of different image seriesthat are displayed in the single image pane.

According to yet another aspect, said registering is based on one ormore of aligning centers of images in the different image series orlinking scrolling between images displayed in different image panes.

In yet another embodiment, a computing system comprises: one or morehardware computer processors; and one or more software modulesconfigured for execution by the one or more computer processors to causethe computing system to: in response to user input, automatically:select a first image series and a second image series each associatedwith a particular patient and including images of a particular modality,wherein the first image series and the second image series togethercomprise a matched set; determine an order for display of images of thematched set, wherein the images of the first image series and a secondimage series are ordered for progressive display of the matched set; anddisplay images of the matched set, one at a time in a single image pane,in the determined order.

According to an aspect, the order is based on one or more of date ortime of acquisition of respective displayed images, laterality ofimages, or view of images.

According to another aspect, the user input is received from an inputdevice in communication with the computing system.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more software modules arefurther configured to cause the computing system to: select images ofthe first image series and the second image series each associated witha different particular modality, wherein the selected images of thefirst image series and the second image series together comprise asecond matched set; determine a second order for display of the selectedimages of the second matched set, wherein the selected images of thefirst image series and the second image series are ordered forprogressive display of the second matched set; and display the selectedimages of the second matched set, one at a time in a single second imagepane, in the determined second order.

In another embodiment, a computing system comprises: one or morehardware computer processors; and one or more software modules includingcomputer executable instructions and configured for execution by the oneor more computer processors to cause the computing system to: accessimages of one or more image series; identify images of the one or moreimage series that are similar based on similarities in one or more ofname, modality, plane, contrast, and/or width of respective images;determine a display order of a first set of images that are determinedto be similar, wherein the display order is determined based on a firstDICOM attribute of respective images of the first set of images; andgenerate a user interface for display of the first set of images in thedetermined display order.

According to an aspect, the first DICOM attribute includes at least oneof orientation, contrast use, thickness of slices, field of view, or MRItissue contrast weighting.

According to another aspect, the first DICOM attribute of respectiveimages is contained in a header file of the respective images.

According to yet another aspect, the first set of images includes onlyimages from a first image series.

According to another aspect, the first set of images includes imagesfrom at least two image series.

According to yet another aspect, the first set of images is displayed inthe determined display order in a single image pane.

According to another aspect, the first set of images are displayedsequentially in the determined display order in response to a userinput.

In yet another embodiment, a method comprises: accessing, by a computingsystem having one or more hardware processors executing computerexecutable instructions, images of one or more image series;identifying, by the computing system, images of the one or more imageseries that are similar based on similarities in one or more of name,modality, plane, contrast, and/or width of respective images;determining, by the computing system, a display order of a first set ofimages that are determined to be similar, wherein the display order isdetermined based on a first DICOM attribute of respective images of thefirst set of images; and generating, by the computing system, one ormore user interfaces to display the first set of images in thedetermined display order.

According to an aspect, the method further comprises: determining, bythe computing system, a second display order of the first set of images,wherein the second display order is determined based on a second DICOMattribute of respective images of the first set of images; anddisplaying, on an electronic display of the computing system or anothercomputing device, the first set of images in the determined seconddisplay order.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: identifying,by the computing system, a second set of images of the one or more imageseries that are similar based on second similarities in one or more ofname, modality, plane, contrast, and/or width of respective images;determining, by the computing system, a second display order of thesecond set of images, wherein the second display order is determinedbased on a second DICOM attribute of respective images of the second setof images; and updating, by the computing system, the one or more userinterfaces to display the second set of images in the determined seconddisplay order.

According to yet another aspect, the first set of images includes onlyimages from a first image series.

According to another aspect, the first set of images includes imagesfrom at least two image series.

According to yet another aspect, the first set of images is displayed inthe determined display order in a single image pane.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring software code is disclosed that, when executed by a computersystem, configures the computer system to perform operations comprising:accessing images of one or more image series; identifying images of theone or more image series that are similar based on similarities in oneor more of name, modality, plane, contrast, and/or width of respectiveimages; determining a display order of a first set of images that aredetermined to be similar, wherein the display order is determined basedon a first DICOM attribute of respective images of the first set ofimages; and providing the first set of images for display in thedetermined display order.

According to an aspect, the first set of images includes only imagesfrom a first image series.

According to another aspect, the first set of images includes imagesfrom at least two image series.

According to yet another aspect, the first set of images is displayed inthe determined display order in a single image pane.

According to another aspect, the first set of images are displayedsequentially in the determined display order in response to a userinput.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; and one or more computer processors in communication with theelectronic display, the input device, and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing software modules including softwareinstructions that are executable by the one or more computer processors,the software modules including at least: a user input module configuredto: receive an indication of a selection of a first image series of afirst medical exam associated with a patient, wherein the first imageseries includes a first plurality of medical images; and a rules enginemodule configured to access one or more matching rules and a first oneor more sorting rules, the first one or more sorting rules indicating afirst attribute and a second attribute, the rules engine module furtherconfigured to: determine, based on the one or more matching rules, asecond image series of a second medical exam for comparison with thefirst image series, wherein the second image series includes a secondplurality of medical images, and wherein the second medical exam is alsoassociated with the patient and was acquired at a time different from atime that the first medical exam was acquired; sort a set of imagesincluding the images of both the first image series and the second imageseries to determine a sorted set of images by at least: sorting the setof images based on the first attribute; and for each sorted group ofimages having a common first attribute, further sorting the group ofimages based on the second attribute such that the sorted set of imagesare sorted based on both the first and second attributes; wherein theuser input module is further configured to: receive a first user input;wherein the rules engine module is further configured to: in response tothe first user input, access a second one or more sorting rulesindicating a third attribute and a fourth attribute; and re-sort the setof images to determine a re-sorted set of images by at least: sortingthe set of images based on the third attribute; and for each sortedgroup of images having a common third attribute, further sorting thegroup of images based on the fourth attribute such that the re-sortedset of images are sorted based on both the third and fourth attributes.

According to an aspect, the first and fourth attributes are the same,and the second and third attributes are the same.

According to another aspect, the software modules further include atleast: a user interface module configured to: generate user interfacedata useable for displaying a user interface on the electronic display,the user interface including a first image of the sorted set of imagesin a first location; and in response to a second user input indicating adirection of movement within the sorted set of images, update the userinterface data such that, in the user interface, the first image isreplaced with a second image of the sorted set of images that isadjacent to the first image in the sorted set of images, wherein thesecond image is included in the first location.

According to yet another aspect, the set of images is re-sorted inresponse to the first user input.

According to another aspect, the user interface module is furtherconfigured to: further in response to the first user input, update theuser interface data such that the user interface includes a third imageof the re-sorted set of images in the first location; and in response toa third user input indicating a direction of movement within there-sorted set of images, update the user interface data such that, inthe user interface, the third image is replaced with a fourth image ofthe re-sorted set of images that is adjacent to the third image in there-sorted set of images, wherein the fourth image is included in thefirst location.

According to yet another aspect, the rules engine module is furtherconfigured to: adjust one or more image characteristics of images of thesorted set of images to reduce artifactual differences between imagesfor comparison.

According to another aspect, the rules engine module is furtherconfigured to: adjust the one or more image characteristics of images ofthe sorted set of images based on a landmark identified in at least twoof the images of the sorted set of images.

According to yet another aspect, the rules engine module is furtherconfigured to: adjust one or more image characteristics of images of there-sorted set of images to reduce artifactual differences between imagesfor comparison

According to yet another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: receive an indication of a selection of afirst image series of a first medical exam associated with a patient,wherein the first image series includes a first plurality of medicalimages; select from a plurality of decision support image series, basedon one or more rules and at least one characteristic of the patient, aclinical decision support image series including a second plurality ofmedical images; access a first one or more sorting rules indicating afirst attribute and a second attribute; and determine a set of images tobe sorted, the set of imagines including the first plurality of imagesof the first image series and the second plurality of images of theclinical decision support image series; sorting the set of images basedon the first attribute; and further sorting the set of images based onthe second attribute such that the sorted set of images are sorted basedon both the first and second attributes.

According to an aspect, the clinical decision support image seriesincludes at least one of: reference medical images, or medical images ofanother patient that has at least one characteristic matching the atleast one characteristic of the patient.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a first user input, accessa second one or more sorting rules indicating a third attribute and afourth attribute; and re-sort the set of images to determine a re-sortedset of images by at least: sorting the set of images based on the thirdattribute; and further sorting the set of images based on the fourthattribute such that the sorted set of images are sorted based on boththe third and fourth attributes.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to receiving the indicationof the selection, automatically analyze data of the first medical exam;determine the first medical exam is a candidate for clinical decisionsupport; and prompt a user to select to compare at least the first imageseries with clinical decision support data, wherein the clinicaldecision support image series is determined in response to a secondinput from the user selecting to compare at least the first image serieswith clinical decision support data.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: access a first dual-image radiographymedical exam of a patient obtained at a first time, wherein the firstdual-image radiography medical exam includes a first plurality of imageseries of a chest of the patient; receive an indication of a selectionof a first image series of the first plurality of image series of thefirst dual-image radiography medical exam; in response to receiving theindication of the selection, determine, based on one or more matchingrules, a second image series of a second plurality of image series of asecond dual-image radiography medical exam, wherein the seconddual-image radiography medical exam is also of the patient and wasobtained at a second time different than the first time; access a firstone or more sorting rules indicating a first attribute and a secondattribute, wherein one of the first attribute and the second attributeis a view type and another of the first attribute and the secondattribute is a time of acquisition; and sort a set of images includingthe images of both the first and second image series to determine asorted set of images by at least: sorting the set of images based on thefirst attribute; and further sorting the set of images based on thesecond attribute such that the sorted set of images are sorted based onboth the first and second attributes.

According to an aspect, each of the first plurality of image series andthe second plurality of image series include at least one image seriesof at least one of: a traditional view type, or a bones out view type.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a first user input,re-sort the set of images to determine a re-sorted set of images by atleast: sorting the set of images based on the second attribute; andfurther sorting the set of images based on the first attribute such thatthe sorted set of images are sorted based on both the second and firstattributes.

According to yet another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: receive an indication of a selection of afirst medical image of a first image series of a first medical examassociated with a patient, wherein the first image series includes afirst plurality of medical images; determine, based on one or morematching rules, a comparison image series of a comparison medical examfor comparison with the first image series, wherein the comparison imageseries includes a second plurality of comparison images, and wherein thecomparison medical exam is also associated with the patient and wasacquired at a time different than the first medical exam; identify,based on one or more attributes of the first medical image, a firstcomparison image of the comparison image series for comparison with thefirst medical image; generate user interface data useable for displayinga user interface on the electronic display, the user interface includingat least: the first medical image of the first image series displayed ina first image pane in a first location; and the first comparison imageof the second image series displayed in a second image pane in a secondlocation; in response to a first user input indicating a direction ofmovement within the first image series: update the user interface datasuch that, in the user interface, the first medical image is replacedwith a second medical image of the first image series that is adjacentto the first medical image in the first image series, wherein the secondmedical image replaces the first medical image in the first image pane;identify, based on one or more attributes of the second medical image, asecond comparison image of the comparison image series for comparisonwith the second medical image; and further update the user interfacedata such that, in the user interface, the first comparison image isreplaced with the second comparison image, wherein the second comparisonimage replaces the first comparison image in the second image pane; andin response to a second user input indicating selection of a secondimage series of the first medical exam: determine, based on one or moreattributes of the second medical image, a first medical image of thesecond image series for display; update the user interface data suchthat, in the user interface, the second medical image is replaced withthe first medical image of the second image series, wherein the firstmedical image of the second image series replaces the second medicalimage of the first image series in the first image pane; identify, basedon one or more attributes of the second image series, a secondcomparison image series of the comparison medical exam for comparisonwith the second image series; identify, based on one or more attributesof the first medical image of the second image series, a firstcomparison image of the second comparison image series for comparisonwith the first medical image of the second image series; and furtherupdate the user interface data such that, in the user interface, thesecond comparison image of the comparison image series is replaced withthe first comparison image of the second comparison image series,wherein the first comparison image of the second comparison image seriesreplaces the second comparison image of the comparison image series inthe second image pane.

According to an aspect, the first comparison image of the comparisonimage series is further identified based on one or more matching rules.

According to another aspect, the second comparison image of thecomparison image series is further identified based on one or morematching rules.

According to yet another aspect, the first comparison image of thesecond comparison image series is further identified based on one ormore matching rules.

According to another aspect, the first location of the first image paneand the second location of the second image pane are adjacent to oneanother.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: display, on the electronic display, afirst medical image of a first image series of a first medical exam in afirst image pane, wherein the first medical exam is associated with apatient; display, on the electronic display, a first medical image of acomparison image series of a second medical exam in a second image pane,wherein the comparison medical exam is also associated with the patient,wherein the second medical exam was acquired at a time different fromthe first medical exam, and wherein the first medical image of thecomparison image series matches the first medical image of the firstimage series in at least one attribute such that the first medical imageof the first image series and first medical image of the comparisonimage series may be usefully compared for diagnosis; in response to afirst user input indicating a change from the first medical image of thefirst image series to another medical image of the first image series:replace, in the first image pane, the first medical image of the firstimage series with the another medical image of the first image series;and replace, in the second image pane, the first medical image of thecomparison image series with another medical image of the comparisonimage series, wherein the another medical image of the comparison imageseries matches the another medical image of the first image series in atleast one attribute such that the another medical image of the firstimage series and the another medical image of the comparison imageseries may be usefully compared for diagnosis; and in response to asecond user input indicating a change from the first image series of thefirst medical exam to another image series of the first medical exam:replace, in the first image pane, the first medical image of the firstimage series with the another medical image of the another image seriesof the first medical exam; and replace, in the second image pane, thefirst medical image of the comparison image series with another medicalimage of another image series of the second medical exam, wherein theanother medical image of the another image series of the second medicalexam matches the another medical image of the another image series ofthe first medical exam in at least one attribute such that the anothermedical image of the another image series of the first medical exam andthe another medical image of the another image series of the secondmedical exam may be usefully compared for diagnosis.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a third user input, freezeat least the second image pane such that a medical image displayed inthe second image pane is not replaced in response to the first and/orsecond user inputs.

According to another aspect, the first and second image panes areadjacent to one another.

According to yet another aspect, the second medical exam was acquiredbefore the first medical exam.

According to yet another embodiment, a method comprises: by one or morecomputer processors configured to execute software instructions:displaying, on an electronic display, a first medical image of a firstimage series of a first medical exam in a first image pane, wherein thefirst medical exam is associated with a patient; displaying, on theelectronic display, a first medical image of a comparison image seriesof a second medical exam in a second image pane, wherein the comparisonmedical exam is also associated with the patient, wherein the secondmedical exam was acquired at a time different from the first medicalexam, and wherein the first medical image of the comparison image seriesmatches the first medical image of the first image series in at leastone attribute such that the first medical image of the first imageseries and first medical image of the comparison image series may beusefully compared for diagnosis; in response to a first user inputindicating a change from the first medical image of the first imageseries to another medical image of the first image series: replacing, inthe first image pane, the first medical image of the first image serieswith the another medical image of the first image series; and replacing,in the second image pane, the first medical image of the comparisonimage series with another medical image of the comparison image series,wherein the another medical image of the comparison image series matchesthe another medical image of the first image series in at least oneattribute such that the another medical image of the first image seriesand the another medical image of the comparison image series may beusefully compared for diagnosis; and in response to a second user inputindicating a change from the first image series of the first medicalexam to another image series of the first medical exam: replacing, inthe first image pane, the first medical image of the first image serieswith the another medical image of the another image series of the firstmedical exam; and replacing, in the second image pane, the first medicalimage of the comparison image series with another medical image ofanother image series of the second medical exam, wherein the anothermedical image of the another image series of the second medical exammatches the another medical image of the another image series of thefirst medical exam in at least one attribute such that the anothermedical image of the another image series of the first medical exam andthe another medical image of the another image series of the secondmedical exam may be usefully compared for diagnosis.

According to an aspect, the method further comprises: by the one or morecomputer processors configured to execute software instructions: inresponse to a third user input, freezing at least the second image panesuch that a medical image displayed in the second image pane is notreplaced in response to the first and/or second user inputs.

According to another aspect, the first and second image panes areadjacent to one another.

According to yet another aspect, the second medical exam was acquiredbefore the first medical exam.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: access a plurality of medical imagesassociated with a plurality of medical exams of a patient; analyze theplurality of medical images to determine, for each medical image,respective attributes of the medical images; sort the plurality ofmedical images into a plurality of image series based on the attributesof the medical images, wherein the plurality of image series includes atleast a first image series and a second image series; analyzing thefirst and second image series to determine pairs of medical images ofthe respective image series that are related to one another; generateuser interface data useable for displaying a user interface on theelectronic display, the user interface including at least: a firstmedical image of the first image series displayed in a first image panein a first location; and a first medical image of the second imageseries displayed in a second image pane in a second location; and inresponse to a first user input indicating a direction of movement withinthe first image series: update the user interface data such that, in theuser interface, the first medical image of the first image series isreplaced with a second medical image of the first image series that isadjacent to the first medical image of the first image series in thefirst image series, wherein the second medical image of the first imageseries replaces the first medical image in the first image pane;identify, based on one or more attributes of the second medical image ofthe first image series, a second medical image of the second imageseries for comparison with the second medical image of the first imageseries; and further update the user interface data such that, in theuser interface, the first medical image of the second image series isreplaced with the second medical image of the second image series,wherein the second medical image of the second image series replaces thefirst medical image of the second image series in the second image pane.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors are furtherconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to cause thecomputing system to: in response to a second user input indicating adirection of movement within the first image series: update the userinterface data such that, in the user interface, the first medical imageof the first image series is replaced with a second medical image of thefirst image series that is adjacent to the first medical image of thefirst image series in the first image series, wherein the second medicalimage of the first image series replaces the first medical image in thefirst image pane; determine, based on one or more attributes of thesecond medical image of the first image series, that no medical image ofthe second image series corresponding to the second medical image of thefirst image series exists; and further update the user interface datasuch that, in the user interface, the first medical image of the secondimage series is replaced with a placeholder in the second image pane.

According to an aspect, the placeholder comprises at least one of ablank image or an absence of an image.

According to an aspect, analyzing the plurality of medical images todetermine, for each medical image, respective attributes of the medicalimages comprises: analyzing the plurality of medical images todetermine, for each medical image, respective view types of the medicalimages; The computing system of claim 14, wherein each image series ofthe plurality of image series comprises a series of medical imageshaving a common view type

According to an aspect, the plurality of medical images comprise chestradiograph images.

According to an aspect, the analyzing the first and second image seriesto determine pairs of medical images of the respective image series thatare related to one another comprises: analyzing the first and secondimage series to determine pairs of medical images of the respectiveimage series that are from a same exam and/or acquired at a similartime.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors are furtherconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to cause thecomputing system to: determine the first and second locations of therespective first and second image panes based on one or more userpreferences.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors are furtherconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to cause thecomputing system to: determine an association between the first imagepane and the first image series based on one or more user preferences.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors are furtherconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to cause thecomputing system to: registering the medical images of the first imageseries so as to enable efficient comparison of the medical images of thefirst image series.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured tostore software instructions; and one or more computer processors incommunication with the electronic display, the input device, and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more computerprocessors configured to execute the software instructions in order tocause the computing system to: generate user interface data useable fordisplaying a user interface on the electronic display, the userinterface including at least a plurality of selectable image thumbnails;and in response to a user input indicating selection of a first imagethumbnail of the plurality of selectable image thumbnails: determine afirst medical image of a first image series of a first medical examassociated with the first image thumbnail, wherein the first imageseries includes a first plurality of medical images, and wherein thefirst medical exam is associated with a patient; determine, based on oneor more matching rules, a comparison series of a comparison exam forcomparison with the first image series, wherein the comparison seriesincludes a second plurality of medical images, and wherein thecomparison medical exam is also associated with the patient and wasacquired at a time different than the first medical exam; identify,based on one or more attributes of the first medical image, a comparisonmedical image of the comparison image series for comparison with thefirst medical image; and update the user interface data such that theuser interface includes at least: the first medical image of the firstimage series displayed in a first image pane in a first location; andthe comparison medical image of the comparison image series displayed ina second image pane in a second location.

According to an aspect, the user input indicating selection of the firstimage thumbnail of the plurality of selectable image thumbnailscomprises a dragging of the first image thumbnail from a first portionof the user interface to a second portion of the user interface.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a second user inputindicating a request to sort medical images: access a first one or moresorting rules indicating a first attribute and a second attribute; sorta set of images including the first and second plurality of medicalimages to determine a sorted set of images by at least: sorting the setof images based on the first attribute; and further sorting the set ofimages based on the second attribute such that the sorted set of imagesare sorted based on both the first and second attributes; and update theuser interface data such that the user interface includes at least: athird image pane overlaying the first and second image panes, wherein afirst image of the sorted set of images is displayed in the third imagepane.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a third user inputindicating a direction of movement within the sorted set of images,update the user interface data such that, in the user interface, thefirst image is replaced with a second image of the sorted set of imagesthat is adjacent to the first image in the sorted set of images, whereinthe second image is displayed in the third image pane.

According to another aspect, the first and second locations are adjacentto one another.

According to yet another embodiment, a method comprises: by one or morecomputer processors configured to execute software instructions:generating user interface data useable for displaying a user interfaceon an electronic display, the user interface including at least aplurality of selectable image thumbnails; and in response to a userinput indicating selection of a first image thumbnail of the pluralityof selectable image thumbnails: determining a first medical image of afirst image series of a first medical exam associated with the firstimage thumbnail, wherein the first image series includes a firstplurality of medical images, and wherein the first medical exam isassociated with a patient; determining, based on one or more matchingrules, a comparison series of a comparison exam for comparison with thefirst image series, wherein the comparison series includes a secondplurality of medical images, and wherein the comparison medical exam isalso associated with the patient and was acquired at a time differentthan the first medical exam; identifying, based on one or moreattributes of the first medical image, a comparison medical image of thecomparison image series for comparison with the first medical image; andupdating the user interface data such that the user interface includesat least: the first medical image of the first image series displayed ina first image pane in a first location; and the comparison medical imageof the comparison image series displayed in a second image pane in asecond location.

According to an aspect, the user input indicating selection of the firstimage thumbnail of the plurality of selectable image thumbnailscomprises a dragging of the first image thumbnail from a first portionof the user interface to a second portion of the user interface.

According to another aspect, the method further comprises: by the one ormore computer processors configured to execute software instructions: inresponse to a second user input indicating a request to sort medicalimages: accessing a first one or more sorting rules indicating a firstattribute and a second attribute; sorting a set of images including thefirst and second plurality of medical images to determine a sorted setof images by at least: sorting the set of images based on the firstattribute; and further sorting the set of images based on the secondattribute such that the sorted set of images are sorted based on boththe first and second attributes; and updating the user interface datasuch that the user interface includes at least: a third image paneoverlaying the first and second image panes, wherein a first image ofthe sorted set of images is displayed in the third image pane.

According to yet another aspect, the method further comprises: by theone or more computer processors configured to execute softwareinstructions: in response to a third user input indicating a directionof movement within the sorted set of images, updating the user interfacedata such that, in the user interface, the first image is replaced witha second image of the sorted set of images that is adjacent to the firstimage in the sorted set of images, wherein the second image is displayedin the third image pane.

According to another aspect, the first and second locations are adjacentto one another.

According to another embodiment, a computer program product comprises acomputer readable storage medium having program instructions embodiedtherewith, the program instructions executable by a computer processorto cause the computer processor to: generate user interface data useablefor displaying a user interface on an electronic display, the userinterface including at least a plurality of selectable image thumbnails;and in response to a user input indicating selection of a first imagethumbnail of the plurality of selectable image thumbnails: determine afirst medical image of a first image series of a first medical examassociated with the first image thumbnail, wherein the first imageseries includes a first plurality of medical images, and wherein thefirst medical exam is associated with a patient; determine, based on oneor more matching rules, a comparison series of a comparison exam forcomparison with the first image series, wherein the comparison seriesincludes a second plurality of medical images, and wherein thecomparison medical exam is also associated with the patient and wasacquired at a time different than the first medical exam; identify,based on one or more attributes of the first medical image, a comparisonmedical image of the comparison image series for comparison with thefirst medical image; and update the user interface data such that theuser interface includes at least: the first medical image of the firstimage series displayed in a first image pane in a first location; andthe comparison medical image of the comparison image series displayed ina second image pane in a second location.

According to an aspect, the user input indicating selection of the firstimage thumbnail of the plurality of selectable image thumbnailscomprises a dragging of the first image thumbnail from a first portionof the user interface to a second portion of the user interface.

According to another aspect, the program instructions are executable bya computer processor to further cause the computer processor to: inresponse to a second user input indicating a request to sort medicalimages: access a first one or more sorting rules indicating a firstattribute and a second attribute; sort a set of images including thefirst and second plurality of medical images to determine a sorted setof images by at least: sorting the set of images based on the firstattribute; and further sorting the set of images based on the secondattribute such that the sorted set of images are sorted based on boththe first and second attributes; and update the user interface data suchthat the user interface includes at least: a third image pane overlayingthe first and second image panes, wherein a first image of the sortedset of images is displayed in the third image pane.

According to yet another aspect, the program instructions are executableby a computer processor to further cause the computer processor to: inresponse to a third user input indicating a direction of movement withinthe sorted set of images, update the user interface data such that, inthe user interface, the first image is replaced with a second image ofthe sorted set of images that is adjacent to the first image in thesorted set of images, wherein the second image is displayed in the thirdimage pane.

According to another aspect, the first and second locations are adjacentto one another.

According to yet another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; and one or more computer processors in communication with theelectronic display, the input device, and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing software modules including softwareinstructions that are executable by the one or more computer processorsin order to cause the one or more computer processors to: access animage series comprising a plurality of images, wherein at least some ofthe plurality of images comprise multi-frame images; display a firstimage of the plurality of images at a location on the electronicdisplay; in response to a first input, received via the input device,display a frame of a second image of the plurality of images at thelocation on the electronic display, wherein the frame of the secondimage replaces the first image on the electronic display, wherein thesecond image comprises a multi-frame image; in response to a secondinput, received via the input device: create a copy of the frame of thesecond image; and add the copy of the frame of the second image to theimage series as a new image; and sort the image series such that the newimage is located adjacent to the second image in the image series.

According to an aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,add the copy of the frame of the second image to a montage; and add themontage to the image series.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,generate data necessary to create a montage including the frame of thesecond image and any changes to the frame of the second image indicatedby the second input; and add an indication of the montage to the imageseries.

According to yet another aspect, the second input indicates adding anannotation to the frame of the second image.

According to another aspect, the second input indicates the frame of thesecond image is a key image.

According to yet another aspect, the second input indicates a change ofan image characteristic of the frame of the second image.

According to another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; and one or more computer processors in communication with theelectronic display, the input device, and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing software modules including softwareinstructions that are executable by the one or more computer processorsin order to cause the one or more computer processors to: access animage series comprising a plurality of images, wherein at least some ofthe plurality of images comprise multi-frame images; display a firstimage of the plurality of images at a location on the electronicdisplay; in response to a first input, received via the input device,display a frame of a second image of the plurality of images at thelocation on the electronic display, wherein the frame of the secondimage replaces the first image on the electronic display, wherein thesecond image comprises a multi-frame image; in response to a secondinput, received via the input device: create data including anindication of the frame of the second image and information associatedwith the second input; and add the data to the image series as anindication of an additional image; and sort the image series such thatthe additional image is located adjacent to the second image in theimage series.

According to an aspect, the information associated with the second inputincludes at least one of: an indication that the frame of the secondimage is a key image, an addition of an annotation to the frame of thesecond image, or an adjustment to an image characteristic of the frameof the second image.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a third input, receivedvia the input device, indicating that the additional image is to bedisplayed: generate the additional image based on the data including theindication of the frame of the second image and the informationassociated with the second input; and display the additional image inthe location on the electronic display.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,add a copy of the frame of the second image to a montage; and add themontage to the image series.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,generate data necessary to create a montage including the frame of thesecond image and any changes to the frame of the second image indicatedby the second input; and add an indication of the montage to the imageseries.

According to yet another embodiment, a database computing system forprocessing digital images comprises: an electronic display; an inputdevice; and one or more computer processors in communication with theelectronic display, the input device, and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing software modules including softwareinstructions that are executable by the one or more computer processorsin order to cause the one or more computer processors to: access animage series comprising a plurality of images, wherein at least some ofthe plurality of images comprise multi-frame images; display a firstimage of the plurality of images at a location on the electronicdisplay; in response to a first input, received via the input device:create a copy of the first image; and add the copy of the first image tothe image series as a new image; and sort the image series, includingthe new image, based one or more user preferences or sorting rules.

According to an aspect, sorting the image series comprises: accessing afirst one or more sorting rules indicating a first attribute and asecond attribute; and sorting the image series by at least: sortingimages of the image series based on the first attribute; and furtherimages of the image series based on the second attribute such that theimages of the image series are sorted based on both the first and secondattributes.

According to another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,add the copy of the first image to a montage; and add the montage to theimage series.

According to yet another aspect, the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: further in response to the second input,generate data necessary to create a montage including the first imageand any changes to the first image indicated by the second input; andadd an indication of the montage to the image series.

According to another aspect, the second input indicates adding anannotation to the first image.

According to yet another aspect, the second input indicates the firstimage is a key image.

According to another aspect, the second input indicates a change of animage characteristic of the first image.

Additional embodiments of the disclosure are described below inreference to the appended claims, which may serve as an additionalsummary of the disclosure.

In various embodiments, computer systems are disclosed that comprise oneor more hardware computer processors in communication with one or morenon-transitory computer readable storage devices, wherein the one ormore hardware computer processors are configured to execute theplurality of computer executable instructions in order to cause thecomputer system to operations comprising one or more aspects of theabove-described embodiments (including one or more aspects of theappended claims).

In various embodiments, computer-implemented methods are disclosed inwhich, under control of one or more hardware computing devicesconfigured with specific computer executable instructions, one or moreaspects of the above-described embodiments (including one or moreaspects of the appended claims) are implemented and/or performed.

In various embodiments, computer readable storage mediums storingsoftware instructions are disclosed, wherein, in response to executionby a computing system having one or more hardware processors, thesoftware instructions configure the computing system to performoperations comprising one or more aspects of the above-describedembodiments (including one or more aspects of the appended claims).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided toillustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit thescope of the claims. Aspects and many of the attendant advantages ofthis disclosure will become more readily appreciated as the same becomebetter understood by reference to the following detailed description,when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing various aspects of a computing systemand network environment in which the computing system may beimplemented, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display device of the system havingimages from two image series concurrently displayed in image panesdisplayed on the display device, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display device of the system havingimages from four image series concurrently displayed in image panesdisplayed on the display device, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating sequential changes to a comparisonimage pane displayed on the display device of the system as images fromtwo image series are compared, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example interleaving of four imageseries, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of viewing imagesfrom multiple image series, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are example images of a first image series.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are example images of a second image series.

FIG. 9 illustrate an example of the images of the first and second imageseries being interleaved for sequential viewing in a predeterminedportion of a display, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display device displaying twocomparison panes, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates the first images of the first and second imageseries illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 8A interleaved for alternativeviewing in a comparison pane, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates the second images of the first and second imageseries illustrated in FIGS. 7B and 8B interleaved for alternativeviewing in a comparison pane, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates various example attributes that may be associatedwith exams, image series, and images, according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are flowcharts illustrating example operations of thesystem, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15A is a flowchart illustrating another example operation of thesystem, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15B is an illustration of four example image series to be sorted,and attributes associated with each.

FIG. 15C is an illustration of four example images generated fromdual-image radiography.

FIGS. 15D and 15E are examples of sorting of the images of the fourexample image series of FIG. 15B.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating another example operation of thesystem, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example user interface of the system, accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 18A-18C illustrate example user interactions with the system via auser interface of the system, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 19A-19E illustrate implementations of auto-registration techniquesthat can be used in conjunction with image shuffling techniques in orderto aid a user in comparing medical images, according to embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example montage that may be displayed on acomputing device of a user, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 21 illustrates another example montage that may be displayed on acomputing device of a user, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating another example operation of thesystem, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although certain preferred embodiments and examples are disclosed below,inventive subject matter extends beyond the specifically disclosedembodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses and tomodifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, the scope of the claimsappended hereto is not limited by any of the particular embodimentsdescribed below. For example, in any method or process disclosed herein,the acts or operations of the method or process may be performed in anysuitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particulardisclosed sequence. Various operations may be described as multiplediscrete operations in turn, in a manner that may be helpful inunderstanding certain embodiments; however, the order of descriptionshould not be construed to imply that these operations are orderdependent. Additionally, the structures, systems, and/or devicesdescribed herein may be embodied as integrated components or as separatecomponents. For purposes of comparing various embodiments, certainaspects and advantages of these embodiments are described. Notnecessarily all such aspects or advantages are achieved by anyparticular embodiment. Thus, for example, various embodiments may becarried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage orgroup of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheraspects or advantages as may also be taught or suggested herein.

I. OVERVIEW

As mentioned above, according to various embodiments systems aredisclosed that enable a user to more quickly, thoroughly, andefficiently, as compared to previous systems, interact with image data,including medical images, to determine differences between relatedmedical images and evaluate medical images.

As also mentioned above, according to various embodiments a datanavigation system is disclosed in which a user may interact with medicalimages (including two-dimensional images and images rendered fromthree-dimensional image data) to enable detection of differences betweenrelated medical images and evaluation of medical images. In variousembodiments described herein, images from one or more series and/orexams are automatically analyzed and sorted. In an embodiment, referenceimage data is alternatively, or also, sorted with images. The systemenables fast and efficient evaluation and comparison of related imagesas a result of the sorting. For example, sorted images may be rapidlypaged through to enable detailed comparison of images and detection ofchanges (including, e.g., changes in a medical condition of a patient).User interfaces of the system are thus dynamically updated to providerapid comparison of images. Further, images from multiple series and/orexams, and/or images from other sources, may be automatically sorted bythe system according to attributes associated with the images and rulesand/or preferences of the user.

In an embodiment, the user may select an image from a series of a firstexam, and the system automatically determines and displays one or morecomparison images from other image series and/or exams. Images selectedfor comparison, and/or images that are sorted, may additionally beautomatically registered and/or matched to enable more efficientcomparison and evaluation by the user. Accordingly, a user may use thesystems described herein to more quickly, thoroughly, and efficientlyinteract with medical images, as compared to previous systems.

In various embodiments, systems and methods are disclosed for matchingrelated medical images and/or medical image series from multiple exams,automatically displaying medical images in particular arrangements, andautomatically sorting medical images from related exams. In one example,a user selects a medical image, and the system automatically identifiesrelated images and/or medical image exams from 2, 3, or 4 (or more)other exams and displays the images next to one another in a gridarrangement, and/or sorts the images and displays them sequentially inan image pane.

In an embodiment, a user interface of the system includes one or moreimage panes in which medical images may be displayed. As described infurther detail below, such a user interface may provide one or morecomparison panes on a display device in which images from multiple imageseries are sequentially displayed.

In various embodiments, medical images may be reconstructed and/orrendered from 3D or volumetric image data using methods includingmultiplanar reformation/reconstruction (MPR), maximum intensityprojection (MIP), and/or the like. Such rendered images may be renderedto match comparison images from other image series and/or exams so as toenable more efficient comparison and evaluation by the user.

Rendering and/or reconstruction of images from 3D of volumetric imagedata can be a computationally intensive task that requires significantprocessing power. Three-dimensional medical image data sets can be onthe order of multiple gigabytes in size, therefore requiring efficientcomputer algorithms to generate human-useable images and otherinformation. Typically, such 3D data sets are acquired by CT, MRI,and/or other similar modality. Volume rendering (e.g., rendering 2Dprojections of 3D data sets) may be accomplished by, e.g., direct volumerendering, maximum intensity projection, and/or the like, and mayrequire one or more computational optimization techniques to be fastenough to be useful. Other reconstruction processes (e.g., rendering 2Dslices of 3D data sets) include, e.g., multiplanar reconstruction. Theseprocesses also require processing of large 3D data sets via optimizedrendering and/or reconstruction algorithms on computer processors.

While the use of medical imaging data (e.g., medical images) isdescribed in the example embodiments herein, in various embodiments thesystems and methods described may be used for display of, andinteraction with, non-medical information, for example, seismicinformation, weather data, and/or financial data, among others.

Additionally, while the examples herein describe the use of informationacquired from a physical object such as a patient, the systems andmethods described may be used to display information obtained orgenerated in other ways, for example, information calculated in asimulation (for example, a financial simulation, and/or a physicssimulation, among others). The systems and methods described herein maybe used for display of any type of information that can be representedon a digital display.

As described above, various embodiments of the present disclosureprovide improvements to various technologies and technological fields,including medical image interaction technology (e.g., Picture Archivingand Communication Systems, Electronic Medical Record systems, and/or thelike). Additionally, various embodiments of the present disclosure areinextricably tied to computer technology. In particular, variousembodiments rely on detection of user inputs via graphical userinterfaces, calculation of updates to displayed electronic data based onthose user inputs, automatic processing of related electronic medicalimages, and/or presentation of the updates to displayed medical imagesvia interactive graphical user interfaces. Such features and others(e.g., generation of 2D medical images from a 3D imaging volume and/orother 2D images, such as at automatically selected or user-selectedplanes) are intimately tied to, and enabled by, computer technology, andwould not exist except for computer technology. For example, theinteractions with displayed data described below in reference to variousembodiments cannot reasonably be performed by humans alone, without thecomputer technology upon which they are implemented. Further, theimplementation of the various embodiments of the present disclosure viacomputer technology enables many of the advantages described herein,including more efficient interaction with, and presentation of, varioustypes of electronic image data.

Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described with reference tothe accompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein isnot intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner,simply because it is being utilized in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific embodiments of the disclosure.Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosure may include several novelfeatures, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes or which is essential to practicing the embodiments of thedisclosure herein described.

II. DEFINITIONS

In order to facilitate an understanding of the systems and methodsdiscussed herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms definedbelow, as well as other terms used herein, should be construed broadlyto include the provided definitions, the ordinary and customary meaningof the terms, and/or any other implied meaning for the respective terms.Thus, the definitions below do not limit the meaning of these terms, butonly provide exemplary definitions.

User: Also referred to herein as “reviewer” and/or “viewer.” Anindividual (or group of individuals) that interfaces with a computingdevice to, for example, view medical images. Users may include, forexample, physicians (including, for example, doctors, radiologists,etc.) hospital staff, and/or any other individuals (including personsnot medically trained) involved in analysis, annotation, comparison,acquisition, storage, management, or other tasks related to medicalimages (or any other types of images) as described herein. Anydiscussion herein of user preferences and/or rules associated with usersshould be construed to also, or alternatively, include user grouppreferences (or rules associated with groups of users), sitepreferences/rules, system preference/rules, and/or default softwarepreferences/rules.

Medical Image (also referred to herein as an “Image”): Any type of imageof an organism (e.g., a human patient). It may include but is notlimited to a radiograph (e.g., an x-ray image), computed tomography(CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Ultrasound (US), mammogram,positron emission tomography scan (PET), nuclear scan (NM), pathology,endoscopy, ophthalmology, or many other types of medical images. Asmentioned above, medical images may be reconstructed and/or renderedfrom 3D or volumetric image data using methods including multiplanarreformation/reconstruction (MPR), maximum intensity projection (MIP),and/or the like (including, e.g., any Computerized Advanced Processing(CAP), as described below). Images of the present disclosure alsoinclude “multi-frame” images, which are images comprising multipleframes (also referred to herein as sub-images). For example, amulti-frame image may be played as a movie (e.g., showing a beatingheart, where each frame shows the beating heart at a different point intime). FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a medical image 1312 andpossible attributes that may be associated with a medical image. Whilethis description is directed to viewing and tracking of medical images,the methods and systems described herein may also be used in conjunctionwith non-medical images, such as, images of circuit boards, airplanewings, and satellite images, for example.

Modality: A medical imaging method (e.g., a patient who undergoes an MRIis said to have been scanned with the MRI modality).

Image Series (also referred to herein as a “Series”): Any two or moreimages that are related. Images in a series typically share one or morecommon attributes, for example, a type of anatomic plane and/or an imageorientation. For example, an image series may comprise two or moreimages of a particular patient that are acquired on a particular date,e.g., different x-ray projections of the chest. A series of contiguous 3mm axial CT scans of the chest is another example of an image series. Abrain MRI scan might include the following series: sagittal T1 weightedimages, axial T1 weighted images, axial FLAIR images, axial T2 weightedimages, as well as post contrast axial, sagittal and coronal T1 weightedseries. An image series of an exam may be identified by its “type” (alsoreferred to herein as a “series type” and/or a “view type”). Forexample, series may be acquired using different pulse sequences,acquired in different anatomic planes (also referred to herein as“imaging planes”), and/or acquired before or after administration ofintravenous contrast material. An image series may be limited to imagesof a certain modality or may comprise images of multiple modalities.FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an image series 1308, as well asexample attributes that may be associated with an image series. Asshown, the image series 1308 includes multiple medical images, such asmedical image 1312.

Montage: An arrangement of images. In some implementations, a montagemay itself be an image which comprises two or more images stitchedtogether into a single image in a particular arrangement. In someimplementations, a montage may be a file comprising sufficientinformation regarding each image of the montage so that the entiremontage can be recreated upon display of the montage. A montage mayinclude images from one or more series, exams, and/or the like. Examplesof montages are described in more detail below in reference to FIG. 20.

Patient: An individual who undergoes a medical imaging examination.

Medical Imaging Exam (also referred to herein as a “Medical Exam” and/oran “Exam”): A collection of data related to an examination of a patient.May be specific to a particular time or time period. Generally includesone or more medical images and/or image series, montages, reports,notes, graphs, measurements, annotations, videos, sounds or voice data,diagnoses, and/or other related information. May include multiple imageseries of multiple modalities, volumetric imaging data, reconstructedimages and/or rendered images. For example, an exam of a patient may bethe brain MRI scan mentioned above, and may include each of the imageseries obtained on a particular date including: sagittal T1 weightedimages, axial T1 weighted images, axial FLAIR images, axial T2 weightedimages, as well as post contrast axial, sagittal and coronal T1 weightedseries. Another example of an exam may be a dual-energy radiographyexam, which may include image data including traditional x-ray imageimages, bone subtracted (or “bone out”) x-ray images, and/or tissuesubtracted (or “tissue out”) x-ray images. FIG. 13 illustrates twoexample medical exams 1302 and 1304. As shown, each medical exam 1302and 1304 includes multiple image series, such as image series 1308 whichis a part of medical exam 1304.

Image Characteristic: Any characteristic related to display of an image.Includes without limitation, image angle (e.g., an angle of an imagewith reference to a standard one or more planes of human anatomy; alsoreferred to herein as “scan plane”), anatomical position (and/orlocation) (e.g., a location, with reference to a standard one or moreplanes of human anatomy, of the patient represented in a particularimage), image orientation (e.g., an orientation of the image withreference to a standard one or more planes of human anatomy), imagerotation (e.g., a rotation of the image with reference to a standard oneor more planes of human anatomy), image field of view, slice thickness,image window and/or level (e.g., a contrast of the image, a brightnessof the image, and/or the like), image color map (e.g., that includesinformation for rendering different pixel intensities as differentcolors), other color characteristics, image opacity (and/or opacitymap), image zoom level, image cropping information, and/or the like. Insome instances, one or more image characteristics may be user definedand/or based on user preferences. The term “image characteristics” isused herein in reference to 2D medical images to refer to the variouscharacteristics of the images with reference to the physical anatomy ofa patient from which they were obtained. Such 2D medical images may beobtained to show a particular slice of a patient at a particularlocation such that a diagnosis of the patient may be made. As describedbelow, later obtained 2D medical images of a same location may vary withrespect to one or more image characteristics such that a validcomparison between the later obtained 2D image and the earlier 2D imageis difficult. Such difficulty may arise due to variance in any imagecharacteristics of the images, including those mentioned above. Imagecharacteristics are also referred to herein as image “attributes.”Further examples of attributes are described below.

Artifactual Difference: A difference between two images that is not dueto changes in patient structure, physiology, anatomy, pathology, and/orthe like, but rather is a result of different image characteristicsbetween the two images. Thus, artifactual differences do not indicatechanges in physical or bodily structure of a patient (such as position,size, density, etc., of particular organs, tendons, muscles, bones,tumors, or other anatomical features). For example, scan planes of twoimages may differ, causing features of the two images to appeardifferent from one of the other, even when there may be no actualdifferences in patient physiology. Such scan plane differences may be aresult of, e.g., differences in patient position within the imagingscanner, differences in imaging scanner used and/or settings of theimaging scanner, and/or differences in how the 2D images are generated(e.g., how the plane of reconstruction and/or rendering of 2D imagesfrom a 3D volume is selected). Artifactual differences contrast with“physical,” or “actual,” differences which are a result of changes inpatient physiology, anatomy, pathology, and/or the like. Accordingly,artifactual differences between medical images can be a source of faultyimage interpretation, diagnosis, and even patient treatment. In variousembodiments, the systems and methods described herein efficiently andautomatically eliminate, or substantially eliminate, artifactualdifferences (due to, e.g., differing image characteristics) in imagesfor comparison such that actual differences (e.g., changes in a physicalcharacteristic of a patient) may be more accurately, efficiently, andeasily discerned by a user.

Attribute: Any characteristic associated with a data item (e.g., a dataitem such as a medical exam, an image series, a medical image, and/orthe like). Attributes may be inherited in a hierarchical manner. Forexample, a medical image may inherit attributes of an image series ofwhich it is a part, and an image series may inherit attributes of amedical exam of which it is a part. Attributes may be stored as part ofan associated data item (e.g., as metadata, DICOM header data, etc.)and/or separately from an associated data item. FIG. 13 illustratesvarious example attributes that may be associated with exams (e.g.,example attributes 1306), image series (e.g., example attributes 1310),and images (e.g., example attributes 1314).

Sorting: A process of arranging images from multiple image series(and/or medical exams and/or other sources (e.g., Clinical DecisionSupport (“CDS”) data, as described below)). In some embodiments, theprocess of sorting images from multiple image series may includegenerating a resultant “sorted” image series. While in some embodimentsa sorted image series (including images from multiple image series) isgenerated, generation of a sorted image series is not necessary. Rather,in various embodiments, the process of sorting images may includedetermining an order of the images, which order may then be referencedwhen, for example, the images are displayed and/or viewed. For example,the system may simply reference pointers to images from multiple imageseries; the system may generate a “sorting metadata” file associatedwith the sorted series that indicates how images from multiple imageseries are sorted; and/or pointers to images from multiple image seriesmay be determined in real-time as images are viewed in a sorted order.“Interleaving” is an example of a type of sorting of images in whichimages of multiple images series are regularly alternated. For example,in some embodiments, an interleaved image series comprises images frommultiple image series ordered so that the interleaved image seriesalternates between the images of the original series. For example, whenimage series A comprising images A1, A2, . . . , An, image series Bcomprising images B1, B2, . . . , Bn, and image series C comprisingimages C1, C2, . . . , Cn are interleaved, the resultant interleavedimage series may be ordered: A1, B1, C1, A2, B2, C2, . . . , An, Bn, Cn.Some embodiments and examples described below refer to “interleaving” ofimages, however other types of sorting may be used in those embodimentsand examples. Images from multiple image series may be sorted in variouspatterns and multiple sortings may be determined from two or more imageseries. Images may be sorted based on one or more attributes associatedwith images, series, and/or exams. When images are sorted based onmultiple attributes, a sorting of the images may be performed based onthe attributes based on a priority of the attributes (as describedbelow). Examples of sorting based on multiple attributes are describedbelow in reference to, e.g., FIGS. 14-14B, 15A-15E.

Image Pane: Also referred to herein as “image frame,” “viewing pane,”“viewing frame,” “comparison pane,” “comparison frame,” and/or simply“pane.” A region of a computer display that may display an image.

Annotation: Any notes, measurements, links, assessments, graphics,and/or the like, associated with a data item, either automatically(e.g., by one or more CAP, described below) or manually (e.g., by auser). For example, when used in reference to a medical image,annotations include, without limitation, any added information that maybe associated with the image, whether incorporated into an image filedirectly, comprising metadata associated with the image file, and/orstored in a separate location but linked to the image file in some way.Examples of annotations include measurements by using linear dimensions,area, density in Hounsfield units, optical density, standard uptakevalue (e.g., for positron emission tomography), volume, curved lines(such as the length of a curved vessel), stenosis (e.g., percentnarrowing of a vessel at a certain location relative to a referencelocation), or other parameters. Additional examples of annotationsinclude arrows to indicate specific locations or anatomy, circles,polygons, irregularly shaped areas, notes, and/or the like. Additionalexamples of annotations include arrows to indicate specific locations oranatomy, circles, polygons, irregularly shaped areas, notes, and/or thelike. Further examples of annotations include graphics that, forexample, outline lesions, lumbar discs, and/or other anatomicalfeatures.

Computerized Advanced Processing (CAP): Any computerized image analysis,image analysis technique, and/or image processing technique discussedherein, and/or any similar computerized processing technique that iscurrently or later available. CAP is described herein with regard toradiology images, but CAP and the systems and methods described hereinmay be applied in other areas including, but not limited to, other typesof medical images (for example, cardiology, dermatology, pathologyand/or endoscopy, among others), computer generated images (for example,3D images from virtual colonoscopy, 3D images of vessels from CTA, andthe like), images from other fields (for example, surveillance imaging,satellite imaging, and the like), as well as non-imaging data includingaudio, text, and numeric data. In some embodiments, CAP may include, butis not limited to, volume rendering (including, for example, multiplanarreformation/reconstruction (MPR), maximum intensity projection (MIP), 3Dvolume rendering, and/or 3D surface rendering), graphicalprocessing/reporting (e.g., automated identification and outlining oflesions, lumbar discs etc.), automated measurement of lesions or otheranatomical features, other image processing techniques, and/or the like.

User Input (also referred to herein as “Input”): As used herein inreference to user interactions with data displayed by a computingsystem, “user input” is a broad term that refers to any type of inputprovided by a user that is intended to be received and/or stored by thesystem, to cause an update to data that is displayed by the system,and/or to cause an update to the way that data is displayed by thesystem. Non-limiting examples of such user input include keyboardinputs, mouse inputs, digital pen inputs, voice inputs, finger touchinputs (e.g., via touch sensitive display), gesture inputs (e.g., handmovements, finger movements, arm movements, movements of any otherappendage, and/or body movements), and/or the like. Additionally, userinputs to the system may include inputs via tools and/or other objectsmanipulated by the user. For example, the user may move an object, suchas a surgical instrument, tool, stylus, or wand, to provide inputs.Further, user inputs may include motion, position, rotation, angle,alignment, orientation, configuration (e.g., fist, hand flat, one fingerextended, etc.), and/or the like. For example, user inputs may comprisea position, orientation, and/or motion of a hand and/or a 3D mouse.

Data Store: Any computer readable storage medium and/or device (orcollection of data storage mediums and/or devices). Examples of datastores include, but are not limited to, optical disks (e.g., CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, etc.), magnetic disks (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, etc.),memory circuits (e.g., solid state drives, random-access memory (RAM),etc.), and/or the like. Another example of a data store is a hostedstorage environment that includes a collection of physical data storagedevices that may be remotely accessible and may be rapidly provisionedas needed (commonly referred to as “cloud” storage).

Database: Any data structure (and/or combinations of multiple datastructures) for storing and/or organizing data, including, but notlimited to, relational databases (e.g., Oracle databases, mySQLdatabases, etc.), non-relational databases (e.g., NoSQL databases,etc.), in-memory databases, spreadsheets, as comma separated values(CSV) files, eXtendible markup language (XML) files, TeXT (TXT) files,flat files, spreadsheet files, and/or any other widely used orproprietary format for data storage. Databases are typically stored inone or more data stores. Accordingly, each database referred to herein(e.g., in the description herein and/or the figures of the presentapplication) is to be understood as being stored in one or more datastores.

III. EXAMPLE COMPUTING DEVICES AND SYSTEMS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing various aspects of a computing system150 and network environment 100 in which the computing system 150 may beimplemented, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.The computing system 150 may be referred to herein as the “datanavigation system,” the “medical image computing system,” simply the“system,” and/or the like.

As shown, the network environment 100 may include the computing system150, a computer network 190, an image store 122, a server 120, a userpreferences and rules database 124, one or more optional externalsensors 125, one or more imaging devices 170, and/or a clinical decisionsupport (CDS) server 171. As described below, in various embodiments thecomputing system 150, the image storage 122, the server 120, the userpreferences and rules database 124, the external sensor(s) 125, theimaging devices 170, and/or the CDS server 171 may be in communicationwith one another via the network 190. In some embodiments, various ofthe image storage 122, the server 120, the user preferences and rulesdatabase 124, the external sensor(s) 125, the imaging devices 170,and/or the CDS server 171 may or may not be considered a part of thecomputing system 150. For example, in some embodiments one or more ofthese components may be implemented as part of the computing system 150,may be in direct communication with the computing system 150, and/or maybe in indirect communication (e.g., over network 190) with the computingsystem 150.

The computing system 150 may include various components as shown anddescribed in detail below. As described below, the computing system 150may display images (including, e.g., medical images) and/or other datato a user via a display 155. The computing system 150 may include one ormore sensors 161 (and/or one or more external sensors 125) that detectinput from a user (e.g., gesture inputs via hand motion). Inputs mayalso be received via the input devices 156 described below. Sensors 161may take various forms and may utilize, for example, cameras thatutilize visible light, cameras that utilize infrared light, ultrasonicsensors, etc. Sensors 161 may be placed in a variety of positions thatallow visualization of a body part to be monitored. As described below,in response to user input received by the computing system 150(including, e.g., detected motion of a user's hand and/or other bodypart and/or inputs via the input devices 156), information displayed(e.g., medical images) may be updated.

Additional components of the computing system 150 may include, forexample, one or more processors 152 and memory and/or data storage 153(including one or more software modules 151 and/or a rules engine 163(which may itself comprise a software module)). In particular, asdescribed below, the rules engine 163 may execute various rules (forexample, one or more rules stored in the user preferences and rulesdatabase 124) that may be used to translate various user inputs intocorresponding changes of displayed images and/or other data. In anotherexample, various rules of the user preferences and rules database 124may indicate user preferences for sorting of images having certainattributes, automatic selection of images for comparison with a userselected image, preferences for registration of sorted and/or comparisonimages, selection of CDS data, and/or the like.

“Sorting rules” are referred to in reference to FIG. 14A below (andother figures herein). Such sorting rules may include any rules of theuser preferences and rules database 124 that may be executed by therules engine 163 to determine sorting of images. As described herein,sorting rules may include reference to one or more attributes of data(e.g., images, images series, exams, etc.) that are used to sort thedata, such as to arrange a group of medical images in a particularsorting order. Sorting rules may define multiple levels of sorting basedon respective attributes and/or combinations of attributes.

“Matching rules” are referred to in reference to FIG. 16 below (andother figures herein). Matching rules may include any rules of the userpreferences and rules database 124 that may be executed by the rulesengine 163 to determine sets of data (e.g., images, image series, exams,etc.) for comparison. For example, matching rules may be executed by thesystem so as to analyze imaging data (e.g., images, image series, exams,etc.) and determine data to compare, such as two or more exams, two ormore image series, two or more images, etc. Examples of determining datafor comparison are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/818,167, filed Aug. 4, 2015, and titled “SYSTEMS AND USER INTERFACESFOR AUTOMATED GENERATION OF MATCHING 2D SERIES OF MEDICAL IMAGES ANDEFFICIENT ANNOTATION OF MATCHING 2D MEDICAL IMAGES,” (the “167application”), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety and for all purposes, as if set forth fullyherein. Additionally, examples of determining data for comparison aredescribed herein in reference to, for example, FIGS. 6, 14A, and 16.

Further, matching rules may also be used by the system to accomplishregistration and/or matching of data (e.g., images, image series, exams,etc.) by adjustment of one or more image characteristics so as to removeartifactual differences, as described herein. For example, in someembodiments the system may include a registration and matching processor(and/or may include the described functionality within the computingsystem 150) that may automatically register and/or match images for moreefficient comparison. Example systems and methods for registration andmatching of images are described in the '167 application.

In various embodiments, any of the rules of the user preferences andrules database 124 (including, e.g., sorting rules and/or matchingrules) may be selected based on, for example, one or more attributes ofdata displayed and/or an identifier or characteristic associated with auser. In various embodiments, any rules and/or particular sets of rulesof the user preferences and rules database 124 may be associated withspecific users, groups of users (e.g., a type of doctor, etc.), sites(e.g., a hospital, etc.), other characteristics of users, computingdevices used the users, and/or the like. Thus, rules may beautomatically selected by the system based on one or morecharacteristics associated with a user. In some embodiments, a defaultset of rules may apply to all user interactions, and/or when there areno rules specifically associated with the user. The various rules may beprovided by the users themselves, by a system administrator, and/or theymay be preprogrammed in to the system.

Additional components of the computing system 150 may include sensors161, which may include, for example, motion sensors 159, orientationsensors 160, and/or location sensors 162. The various sensors 161 mayinclude, for example, a camera (for example, video cameras, infraredcameras, and/or the like) or array of cameras capable of detecting(and/or providing data necessary for detecting) a position (including alocation and/or orientation) and/or motion of the user's hand (or othergesture from the user). For example, sensors 161 may comprise acommercially available position sensor such as Microsoft's Kinect orLeap Motion's Leap Motion Controller. In various embodiments, one ormore, or in some cases all, of the sensors 161 may be located asexternal sensors 125. In some embodiments, combinations of externalsensors 125 and sensors 161 of the computing system 150 may be used fordetecting user inputs.

In some embodiments, one or more sensors (for example, external sensors125) may be attached and/or removably attached to the user, and/or maybe located in tools or other objects operated by the user (e.g., asurgical instrument, tool, stylus, or wand, as described above) and suchsensors may transmit information to the computing system 150 (througheither a wired or wireless connection) such that the inputs of the usermay be determined. For example, such sensors on the user may includegyroscopes (that may be used, for example, to detect and measurerotational motion), accelerometers (that may be used, for example, todetect and measure linear motion), compasses, Global Positioning System(GPS) transceivers and devices, near field communication (NFC)technology devices, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices,systems and devices utilizing WiFi, systems and devices utilizingBluetooth such as iBeacons, and/or the like. In another example, aposition transmitter may be used to track the location, position,movement, and/or orientation of the user and/or the user's body parts(e.g., the user's hand). Such a position transmitter may transmit aposition and/or motion of, e.g., the user's hand and/or an input device,to one of the external sensors 125. In some embodiments positioninformation from the external sensors 125 may supplement positioninformation from the sensors 161. In other embodiments, a user inputsmay be determined based on only information from sensors 161 or based ononly information from external sensors 125.

The various sensors and transmitters (e.g., any combination of thesensors described above) may provide input data to the computing system150 such that inputs from the user may be detected and/or determined.Such input data may be processed by, for example, one or more softwaremodules 151 of the computing system 150 and/or other components of thesystem, as described below, such that displayed image data and/or otherdisplayed information may be updated.

As further described below, network environment 100 may include a server120 that provides information that is displayed by computing system 150.Network environment 100 may include image storage 122 (for example, adata store, database, and/or storage system) that may be configured tostore information, such as image data (also referred to herein as imageand/or imaging information) (for example, images (e.g., two-dimensional(2D) images), image series, three-dimensional (3D) imaging data, medicalimaging exams, and/or the like), that is processed by server 120 and/orcomputing system 150. In various embodiments, image data is stored inDigital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (“DICOM”) format and/orany other appropriate format. Network environment 100 may also includeuser preferences and rules database 124 which may store user, group, orsite preferences and rules that determine the operation of variousembodiments as described herein. Additionally, user preferences andrules database 124 may include various rules that are used by the systemto translate user inputs into corresponding movement of displayed imagesand/or other data, as described below.

In some embodiments, user preferences and rules database 124 may be usedto store particular rules and preferences to apply to medical imagingdata (or other data types in other embodiments) for particular users.For example, certain rules may be preferred by certain users and/orgroups of users. Accordingly, preferences associated with those certainusers and/or groups of users may indicate that the certain rules are tobe applied such that, for example, certain types of images are to besorted (and/or selected for comparison) based on certain attributes ofthose images. As discussed in further detail below, the rules andpreferences of the user preferences and rules database 124 may varydepending of the type of image, area imaged, clinical indication, sourceof image, display device, user, or other factors. Accordingly, any typeof user preferences and/or rules are expressly contemplated for use inconjunction with the systems and methods described herein.

In various embodiments, the functionality provided by image storage 122,server 120, CDS server 171, and/or user preferences and rules database124 may reside within computing system 150.

The imaging devices 170 may include any devices capable of obtainingimages for use by the system. For example, imaging devices 170 mayinclude one or more medical scanners, such as X-Ray scanners, MRIscanners and/or CT scanners (as further described below).

The clinical decision support (CDS) server 171 may provide any type ofimaging and/or other data (referred to herein a clinical decisionsupport (CDS) data) to the computing system 150 that may be useful foranalysis and evaluation of images by a user (e.g., for more efficientdiagnosis of medical conditions). Determination of CDS data may be byexecution of one or more rules of the user preferences and rulesdatabase 124. For example, the CDS server may, in response to a requestby a user for CDS data in relation to a series of medical images,analyze one or more characteristics associated with a patient from whichthe series was obtained. The CDS server 171 may then determine, based onthe analysis, a comparison series of images comprising images of a“normal” patient having similar characteristics. The determinedcomparison series may then be provided and sorted with (or,alternatively, displayed alongside) the series of medical images.Accordingly, the comparison series and the series of medical images maybe compared and evaluated. As described above, certain rules may beexecuted based on a user, group, site, and/or the like. Thus, a doctorwith a particular specialty may receive difference CDS data from the CDSserver 171 than a doctor with a different specialty. Accordingly, theCDS server 171 may enable more efficient diagnosis of patients. Asmentioned, the CDS server 171, and/or the functionality of the CDSserver 171, may, in some embodiments, be included in the computingsystem 150.

IV. EXAMPLE USER INTERFACES FOR COMPARISON OF IMAGES

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display device of the system havingimages from two image series concurrently displayed in image panes 212and 214 displayed on the display device 210, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. In the discussion that follows, the displaydevice 210 is coupled to a computing device, such as computing system150, and receives display information from the computing system 150.While the systems and methods described below for sorting (including,e.g., interleaving) and viewing images of multiple image series may becontrolled by any suitable computing device, for ease of explanationherein, reference will be made to a display device coupled to computingsystem 150.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, an image of a series A image series isdisplayed in the image pane 212, while an image of the series B imageseries is displayed in the image pane 214. As noted above, each imageseries comprises a group of images that are related in some way, such ashaving been acquired from a patient on a particular day. Although only asingle image of each of the image series is simultaneously displayed onthe display device 210, the series A and series B image series eachcomprise multiple images.

In some embodiments, such as where the series A and B images arerelated, e.g., series A comprises mammogram images of a patient taken ona first date and series B comprises the mammogram images of the samepatient taking on a later date, it may be advantageous to identifydifferences between the images of series A and series B. For example, ifa lung radiograph from two months previous, and a current lungradiograph are to be compared in order to determine if any changes haveoccurred in the lungs over the previous two months, the viewer or readermay view the two x-rays side by side, such as in image panes 212 and 214as illustrated in FIG. 2. Accordingly, in some embodiments describedherein, are example systems and methods for comparison of images ofmultiple image series so that differences between the images may bedetermined. In certain embodiments, related images are displayedside-by-side in multiple viewing panes and/or sequentially in a singleviewing pane (and/or sequentially in multiple viewing panes) on adisplay device so that difference between the images may be detected bya user. The systems and methods described herein are applicable to anytwo or more images, including multiple images of multiple image series,for example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display device of the system havingimages from four image series concurrently displayed in image panes 312,314, 316, and 318 displayed on display device 210, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, theimage pane 312 displays images from series A, the image pane 314displays images from series B, the image pane 316 displays images fromseries C, and the image pane 318 displays images from series D. Thus, asingle image from each of the four image series A-D is concurrentlydisplayed on the display device 210. Accordingly, comparison of imagesof multiple series may be performed using a graphical user interfacesuch as displayed in FIG. 3, wherein the user distinguishes differencesbetween images that are displayed side-by-side on a display device.

V. EXAMPLE USER INTERFACES AND INTERACTIONS FOR COMPARISON OF SORTEDIMAGES

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating sequential changes to a comparisonimage pane 410 displayed on the display device 210 of the system asimages from two image series are compared, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The comparison pane 410 is configured to displaya single image. In an embodiment, a display pane of the system, e.g.display pane 312 on display device 210, serves as the comparison pane410. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, images from two image series, imagesseries A and 13, have been selected for comparison. After being selectedfor comparison using any suitable selection method, images from series Aand 13 are interleaved so that they are alternatively displayed in thecomparison pane 410.

In embodiments with more than two series, the interleaved images may beordered according to various schemes and based on various attributes, asdescribed below. For example, images from four image series may beordered as follows: first image of first image series, first image ofsecond image series, first image of third image series, first image offourth image series, second image of first image series, and so forth.In other embodiments, however, the interleaved images may be ordereddifferently. For example, images from four image series may also beordered as follows: first image of first image series; first image ofsecond image series; first image of first image series; first image ofthird image series; first image of first image series; and first imageof fourth image series. While some of the description above and belowrefers to “interleaving,” any other sorting of images from multipleimage series falls within the scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, images may be sorted based on attributes other than imagenumber, and may further be sorted based on multiple attributes, asdescribed below in reference to FIGS. 14-146, 15A-15E.

FIG. 4 shows the display device 210 at four states 402, 404, 406, and408 of the comparison process, where the comparison process describesthe process of displaying images in an interleaved image series. Moreparticularly, at state 402, a first image of image series A is displayedin the comparison pane 410. Moving to state 404, the first image ofimage series A is replaced by a first image of image series B in thecomparison pane 410. Assuming the images of series A and B are of thesame subject, the image displayed in blocks 402 and 404 may be verysimilar. Accordingly, if differences exist in the first images of seriesA and B, these differences may be more easily detectable as the displaydevice cycles between the two images. Comparison of images in aninterleaved image series may be more advantageous if the images of eachselected image series are of a common anatomical area, common imagesize, common image orientation, and the images are in the same order.Accordingly, in an embodiment images of the interleaved image series maybe registered and/or matched such that the interleaved images match inregards to one or more image characteristics to reduce and/or eliminateartifactual differences.

In one embodiment, the computing system 150 that is coupled to thedisplay 210 may store settings for displaying images of particular imageseries, such as, for example, time for displaying each image, resolutionof each image, cropping to be applied to each image, and any othersetting that maybe appropriate. In one embodiment, the time fordisplaying an image may be determined real time by the user. Forexample, the user may press a designated key on a keyboard or mouse,and/or provide other user input (as described above) in order toindicate that the current image should be replaced with an adjacentimage in the interleaved image series. In another embodiment, the userselects settings for display of the images. For example, the user mayselect an appropriate zoom level of an image series that should beapplied to each image in the image series.

Thus, the images of series A may be magnified more or less than theimages of series B. In addition, the user may adjust any othervisualization settings for individual images, an entire image series, ortwo or more image series. In an embodiment, as described above andbelow, the system may automatically register and/or match images formore efficient comparison.

With the first image of series B displayed in the comparison pane 410(state 404), the user may initiate viewing of an adjacent image in theinterleaved image series by pressing a certain key on a keyboard ormouse, or by other user input, for example. In an embodiment, a firstinput from a mouse indicates that a next image, e.g. image 2 of series A(state 406), should be displayed in the comparison pane 410, and asecond input from the mouse indicates that a previous image, e.g. image1 of series A (state 402), should again be displayed in the comparisonpane 410. In one embodiment, the first input is entered by the usermoving a scroll button on the mouse in a first direction and the secondinput is entered by the user moving the scroll button on the mouse in anopposite direction. In another example, the first and second user inputsmay be provided by gestures (e.g., the user moved their hand right orleft in front of the display 210). Thus, the user may change the contentof the comparison pane 410 to either a next or a previous image in theinterleaved image series. For example, at state 404, if the user wishesto again view the first image of series A, e.g., in order to locatedifference in the first images of series A and B, the user may providean input to the computing system 150 indicating movement to a previousimage. Alternatively, at state 404, if the user wishes to view a nextimage in the interleaved image series, the user may provide an input tothe computing system 150 indicating movement to a next image.

At state 406, the second image of series A is displayed in thecomparison pane 410, replacing the first image of series B (state 404).At state 406, the user may provide inputs to the computing system 150indicating that the comparison pane 410 should be updated with aprevious image, e.g. state 404, or a subsequent image, e.g., state 408.

At state 408, the second image of series B is displayed in thecomparison pane 410, replacing the second image of series B (state 406).At state 406, the user may provide inputs to the computing system 150indicating that the comparison pane 410 should be updated with aprevious image, e.g. state 404, or a subsequent image. In oneembodiment, each of the image series A and B include more than twoimages, such as 3 or more images, and the images of series A and B aredisplayed in the manner described above with respect to FIG. 4. In oneembodiment, more than two images series may be interleaved for displayin the comparison pane. For example, if three images series, e.g.,series A, B, and C, are selected for comparison, a first image of eachof the series may be sequentially displayed in the comparison pane,followed by a second image of each of the series, and so on. As notedabove, the user may control the timing of transition between display ofimages in the interleaved image series and may even control thedirection of movement in the interleaved series. Additionally, the usermay control alignment and/or positioning of the images of each imagesseries in order to precisely align interleaved images from multipleseries.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the images of each of the image seriesare automatically modified (e.g., registered and/or matched) so thatimage characteristics of the images are similar. For example, images maybe adjusted by changing their size, rotation, and location. If theimages are of substantially the same anatomical structure, when theimages of the interleaved image series are displayed in the comparisonpane, differences between adjacent images may be more easily detected.In one embodiment, selected images are morphed in order to achieve acommon size of the anatomical structure of interest in each of theimages. In one embodiment, photographic filters may be applied to allimages of one or more image series, or to selected images of one or moreimage series, to further enhance the viewer's ability to distinguishdifferences in the images.

In one embodiment, information regarding the image currently displayedin the comparison pane 410 is displayed on the display device 210 andupdated as the images in the comparison pane 410 are changed. Forexample, information regarding the images series and image number withinthe series may be displayed for each image. In addition, the exam dateand time may also be displayed and updated as the images of theinterleaved image series are displayed in the comparison pane 410. Inone embodiment, an indicator of whether the current display is of aninterleaved image series or a single image series is displayed on thedisplay device. For example, “interleaved” or “sorted” may be displayedat the top of the display device when an interleaved image series isdisplayed in a comparison pane. In some embodiment, the user may choosewhat information related to the images of the interleaved image seriesshould be displayed. The user may also be provided the ability to turnthe display of information on and off, such as by pressing a particularkey or key combination on the keyboard.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example interleaving of four imageseries in creating an interleaved image series, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. As noted above, the image seriesthat are selected for comparison, and thus, are selected forinterleaving, may be selected by a user in one of several manners or maybe automatically selected by the system based on properties of the imageseries. In one embodiment, the multiple image series are interleaved.For example, a first image of each series may be displayed in thecomparison pane prior to display of a second image of any of the otherselected image series. In other examples, the multiple image series maybe interleaved based on one or more attributes, as described below inreference to FIGS. 14-14B, 15A-15E. FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplaryinterleaving of four image series, series A, B, C, and D, eachcomprising four images. As those of skill in the art will recognize,more or fewer image series, each comprising more or fewer images, may beinterleaved in a manner similar to that illustrated in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, the images of series A are represented by diamonds in acolumn 510, where a number in each of the diamonds represents a specificimage within image series A. Similarly, images of series B arerepresented by squares in column 520, series C are represented by ovalsin a column 530, and series D are represented by parallelograms in acolumn 540. Each of the images in images series B, C, and D are likewisenumbered 1-4, indicating a particular image in each image series. Asnoted above, the first image selected for comparison in a particularimage series may not be the first image in the image series, e.g., thefirst image of an exam. Thus, although each image series A-D begins witha first image labeled image “1”, this first image may not be the firstimage in the image series, but may be a user selected, or automaticallyselected, start image. In addition, each of the images may haveuser-defined image characteristics that are different than other imagesof the same series and/or other image series. In some embodiments, imagecharacteristics, such as zoom level, cropping, and color characteristics(among others, as described above), may be simultaneously changed foreach image in an image series, such as series A, B, C, D, or aninterleaved image series, such as interleaved image series 540. In someembodiments, images of the interleaved image series may be automaticallyregistered and/or matched to remove artifactual differences betweencomparison images.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, an interleaved image series 550 includes eachof the images 1-4 in each of the image series A-D. More particularly,the interleaved image series 550 comprises a first image from each ofseries A-D, followed by a second image from each of the series A-D,followed by a third image from each of the series A-D, followed by afourth image from each of the series A-D. Thus, when the interleavedimage series 550 is displayed in the comparison pane, a first image ofthe image series A is displayed, followed by a first image of imageseries B, a first image of image series C, and a first image of imageseries D. While the order of the interleaved image series 550 ismaintained during viewing of the interleaved images, the direction ofmovement between adjacent images may be selected by the user orautomatically by the computing system 150.

In an embodiment, the interleaving described above in reference to FIG.5 may understood as interleaving based on two attributes, in order ofpriority: 1. Image number, and 2. time of acquisition. For example,image series A may have been acquired first, image series B may havebeen acquired second, image series C may have been acquired third, andimage series D may have been acquired last. Thus, interleaving the fourimages series may be accomplished by, first, grouping the images byimage number (e.g., all image 1's go together, all image 2's gotogether, etc.), and then ordering the grouped images by time ofacquisition such that the earliest acquired is first (resulting in asorting order: series A image 1, series B image 1, series C image 1,series D image 1, series A image 2, etc.)

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of viewing imagesfrom multiple image series, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Using the method of FIG. 6, multiple image series may beeasily compared and differences between images of the multiple imageseries may be distinguished. Depending on the implementation, the systemmay perform methods having more and/or fewer blocks than are shown,and/or the blocks may occur in a different order and/or in parallel inorder to accomplish certain methods and/or processes of the system. Inan embodiment, one or more blocks in the flowchart may be performed by,or implemented in, one or more computer modules and/or processors, as isdescribed above and below with reference to FIG. 1.

In block 610, a first image series is selected. As noted above, an imageseries is a group of two or more images that are in some way related.For example, a first image series may comprise multiple chest x-rays ofa patient that are taken on a given date.

In block 620, one or more comparison image series are selected. Theseimage series also each comprise two or more images that are in some wayrelated, such as having been taken at a common exam. The comparisonimage series may be related to the first image series so that when thefirst image series and the comparison image series are compared,meaningful distinctions between the image series may be detected. Asdescribed below in reference to FIG. 14A, in some embodiments imageseries and/or medical exams for comparison may be automatically selectedby the system based on one or more matching rules.

In one embodiment, the first image series and the comparison imageseries are selected by the user clicking on a button indicating thatimage sorting is desired. In one embodiment, a user right-clicks with amouse on an image of a first image series in order to initiate displayof an “interleave menu” or “sort menu” listing options for selectingimage series for sorting and viewing the sorted image series. In oneembodiment, the interleave menu includes an option, such as “interleaveadjacent,” indicating that the user may select one of the other imageseries displayed on the display for interleaving. In certainembodiments, any number of image panes may be simultaneously displayedon the display device 210. For example, in FIG. 2, two image panes 212and 214 are display and in FIG. 3, four image panes 312, 314, 316, and318 are displayed. In other embodiment, six, eight, ten, twelve, or moreimage panes may be concurrently displayed on the display device.

When the “interleave adjacent” option is selected, the user may selectone or more comparison series by moving the pointer to a border betweenthe adjacent series and clicking the mouse button. In one embodiment,the cursor icon changes when it is positioned in a border indicatingthat the adjacent image series may be selected for comparison byclicking the mouse button. With reference to FIG. 3, for example, theuser may right click on the image pane 314 in order to select series Bas the first image series and to initiate display of the interleavemenu. From the interleave menu, if the user selects interleave adjacent,the user may then move the pointer to the border between the image panes312 and 314 and click the mouse button in order to select series A as acomparison image series. In one embodiment, selecting a comparison imageseries initiates creation of an interleaved image series and displaysthe first image of the interleaved image series in the comparison pane.In an embodiment when only two image series are represented on thedisplay device, such as FIG. 2, selection of interleave adjacent fromthe interleave menu may automatically select the two displayed imageseries for interleaving and initiate creation and viewing of ainterleaved image series.

In one embodiment, the interleave menu also includes an option thatallows the user to select an adjacent image series for interleaving and,after selection of the first and comparison image series, displaysimages of the interleaved images series in a comparison pane that coversthe entire display area, or substantially all of the display area, ofthe display device. In this way, the images of the selected image seriesmay be viewed at a higher magnification level and, accordingly,differences in the images may be more easily detectable. Thus, in anembodiment that displays four image panes on the display device (e.g.,FIG. 3), after selection of this option from the interleave menu, asingle click on a comparison image series may cause the computing deviceto generate an interleaved image series and display a first image of theinterleaved image series in a comparison pane that covers substantiallyall of the display area of the display device, e.g., the area previouslycovered by the four image panes 312, 314, 316, and 318 of FIG. 3.Advantageously, this “interleave and jump to full screen display” optionon the interleave menu provides an efficient transition from display ofmany image series to the display of a single interleaved series in acomparison pane that covers all, or substantially all, of the displayarea of a display device.

In one embodiment, the interleave menu includes an option that initiatesautomatic selection of one or more comparison image series based uponattributes of the selected first image series. For example, image serieswith the same or similar names may be selected as comparison imageseries. In addition, image series may be selected automatically basedupon any other criteria, such as one or more information items containedin the DICOM headers of images. In one embodiment, when this option ischosen from the interleave menu, a list of image series that have thesame series name, or other criteria that may be user defined, may bedisplayed. The user may then select one or more of the displayed seriesas comparison image series.

The interleave menu advantageously allows the user to select imageseries for interleaving and automatically display the generatedinterleaved image series with minimal input from the user. For example,after selecting “interleave adjacent” on the interleave menu, a singleclick of a mouse, for example, on a border between the images to beinterleaved causes the computing system 150 to generate an interleavedimage series and display a first image of the interleaved image seriesin a comparison pane on the display device.

In an embodiment, the user may initiate sorting of image series byselection of button as described below in reference to the userinterface of the 18C. In the embodiment of FIG. 18C, functionalitysimilar to that described above applied. For example, images of seriesfor comparison may be automatically sorted, registered and/or matched,and displayed in an enlarged window of the display.

Returning to the diagram of FIG. 6, in a block 630, a starting image ofeach of the image series is selected. In one embodiment, a first imageof the first image series and each of the comparison image series aredisplayed on a display device. A user, providing a user input via usingan input device, such as a mouse or keyboard, and/or another inputmethod, may cycle through the images in each of the image series inorder to determine a first image for comparison. For example, images ofcertain modalities, such as CT and MRI images, may not have startingimages that are each taken at similar physical locations within thepatient. Thus, in these embodiments the user may select a differentstarting image in each of the image series so that adjacent images inthe interleaved image series are more closely related. For example, ifthe images series to be interleaved are series A comprising images A1,A2, . . . , An, series B comprising images B1, B2, . . . , Bn, andseries C comprising images C1, C2, . . . , Cn, the user may selectimages A1, B3, and C5 as the starting images of the respective imageseries so that the resultant interleaved image series is orderedA1,B3,C5, A2,B4,C6, A3,B5,C7, . . . Ax,Bx+2,Cx+4.

In an advantageous embodiment, the starting image in each of the seriesshould be related so that meaningful differences between the images ofthe image series are detectable. In one embodiment, the user may adjustimage characteristics of each image in an image series by adjusting theimage characteristics of the image currently displayed from the desiredimage series. For example, if the first image series is at a higher zoomlevel than the comparison image series, the zoom level of each image inthe first image series may be adjusted by adjusting the zoom level ofthe currently display image of the first image series.

After selecting the first image series and the comparison image series,and selecting the image characteristics of one or more of the imageswhich are then applied to the other images in the series to which itbelongs, the image series are interleaved so that an interleaved imageseries is created, as illustrated in FIG. 5, for example.

In a block 640, images from the interleaved image series are displayedin a comparison pane displayed on the display device. In one embodiment,the comparison pane fills substantially the entire display area of adisplay device. In another embodiment, the comparison pane is smallerthan a total display area of the display device. In one embodiment, auser input determines when a current image displayed in the comparisonpane is updated with an adjacent image, by moving a scroll wheel on amouse while pressing a mouse button, for example. In one embodiment,when the user has completed viewing the interleaved image series, theprevious layout on the display device may be restored by the userperforming a specific action, such as releasing the mouse button that isdepressed while viewing interleaved images.

In various embodiments, as mentioned above, images to be interleaved maybe reconstructed and/or rendered from volumetric imaging data via one ormore of the CAP method described above. In some instances, two examscomprising volumetric image data may be selected for comparison, andmatching images may then be reconstructed and/or rendered forinterleaving. In other instances, a set of volumetric imaging data maybe selected for comparison with an existing image series, and acomparison image series may then be reconstructed/rendered and matchedfrom the set of volumetric imaging data.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are example images of a first image series, FIGS. 8A and8B are example images of a second image series, and FIG. 9 is a diagramillustrating an example of the images of the first and second imageseries being interleaved for sequential viewing in a predeterminedportion of a display, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. More particularly, FIGS. 7A and 7B are two mammographicimages 710 and 720 in a first image series. In one embodiment, theimages 710 and 720 are obtained by imaging of a patient on a first date.FIGS. 8A and 8B are two mammographic images 810 and 820 in a secondimage series. In one embodiment, the images 710, 720, 810, and 820 areof the same patient, but the images 810 and 820 were obtained at a laterdate than the images 710 and 720. Thus, differences between the earliermammographic images 710 and 720, and the later mammographic images 810and 820 may be useful in detection and diagnosis of the patient.Accordingly, comparison of the images of the images series illustratedin FIGS. 7A-7B and 8A-8B may allow detection of differences between theearlier and later images.

FIG. 9 shows the images of FIGS. 7A-7B and 8A-8B combined in aninterleaved image series for viewing in a comparison pane. For example,in state 902, image 710 may first be displayed in a comparison pane.When the user indicates that a next image should be displayed, in state904, image 810 replaces image 710 in the comparison pane. With image 810displayed in the comparison pane, when the user indicates that a nextimage should be displayed, in state 906, image 720 is replaced withimage 810 in the comparison pane. With image 720 displayed in thecomparison pane, when the user indicates that a next image should bedisplayed, in state 908, image 720 is replaced with image 820 in thecomparison pane. As noted above, however, movement between images in aninterleaved image series, such as that of FIG. 9, may be bidirectionalso that the user may move back and forth between images as desired.

In another embodiment, interleaving of image series produces two or moreinterleaved image series. In one embodiment, images of a firstinterleaved image series may be alternatively displayed in a firstcomparison pane of the display device, while images of a secondinterleaved image series may be alternatively displayed in a secondcomparison pane of the display device, and so on. For example, if theimage series to be interleaved are series A comprising images A1, A2,and series B comprising images B1, B2, the system may generate a firstinterleaved series ordered A1, B1, and a second interleaved image seriesordered A2, B2. In one embodiment, images from each from each of thefirst and second interleaved image series are concurrently displayed ona display device in separate comparison panes. In one embodiment, anoption on the interleave menu, discussed above, may be selected in orderto initiate generation of multiple interleaved image series andconcurrent display of multiple comparison panes on the display device.In one embodiment, more than two images of image series may beinterleaved in the above-described manner and more than two comparisonpanes may be displayed concurrently on a display device for viewing thegenerated interleaved image series.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display device displaying twocomparison panes 1010A and 1010B, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. As noted above, multiple interleaved or otherwisesorted image series may be concurrently displayed on the display device210 in separate comparison panes. In another embodiment, the displaydevice 210 displays three or more comparison panes for concurrentlydisplaying three or more sorted image series.

FIG. 11 illustrates the first images 710 and 810 of each of the firstand second image series illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 8A, and FIG. 12illustrates the second images 720 and 820 of each of the first andsecond image series illustrated in FIGS. 7B and 8B. The images 710 and810 (FIG. 11) comprise a first interleaved image series, while theimages 720 and 820 (FIG. 12) comprise a second interleaved image series.In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12, the images 710 and,720 are from a first exam and the images 810 and 820 are from a secondexam. However, the first selected images from each exam, e.g., images710 and, 810, are of a first projection, while the second selectedimages from each exam, e.g., 720 and 820, are of a second projection(and/or they match with regards to another attribute). Thus, it may beadvantageous for an interpreter of the images to view the images of thesame projection, from different exams, in separate interleaved imageseries. Accordingly, in the embodiment of FIGS. 10, 11, and 12, a firstinterleaved image series comprising images 710 and 810 are viewed in afirst comparison pane 1010A while a second interleaved image seriescomprising images 720 and 820 are viewed in a second comparison pane1010B. In this embodiment, the viewer may advantageously move betweenimages of the same projection in a comparison pane in order to identifydifferences in the images, while also viewing images of one or moreadditional projections in additional comparison panes. In oneembodiment, any number of images may be included in each of theinterleaved images series displayed in comparison panes 101A and 1010B,and additional comparison panes may be concurrently displayed on thedisplay device 210.

As mentioned above, the inventors have found that users using the systemto flip through medical images (e.g., to analyze the images and performdiagnoses based on the images) are faster (e.g., 15% faster or more) andmore accurate than users using traditional methods of comparing images.

FIGS. 14A, 14B, and 15A are flowcharts illustrating example operationsof the system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.Depending on the implementation, the system may perform methods havingmore and/or fewer blocks than are shown, and/or the blocks may occur ina different order and/or in parallel in order to accomplish certainmethods and/or processes of the system. In an embodiment, one or moreblocks in the flowchart may be performed by, or implemented in, one ormore computer modules and/or processors, as is described above and belowwith reference to FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 14A, a method of sorting and displaying images isillustrated, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. At block1400, the system determines images to be sorted. For example, the systemmay determine individual images to be sorted, may determine one or moreimage series from which images are to be sorted, may determine one ormore exams from which images are to be sorted, may determine one or morevolumetric data sets from which images are to be reconstructed and/orrendered and sorted, and/or any combination of the above. Selection ofimages to be sorted may be provided by a user (e.g., a user manuallyselects two image series to be sorted), may be based on userpreferences/rules that are automatically applied by the system (e.g.,matching rules, as described above), and/or may be automaticallyselected based on system preferences. For example, the user may select afirst image and/or image series to review, and the system mayautomatically determine a second image and/or image series to compare tothe first image and/or image series. The system may then automaticallysort the images of the first and second images/image series.Determination of images/image series/exams for comparison, as describedelsewhere herein, may be based on rules (e.g., matching rules) selectedbased on an identity of, and/or characteristics associated with, theuser. For example, the user may prefer to compare a particular type ofimage series with another particular type of image series. Suchpreference may vary based on a diagnosis of a patient and/or a reasonfor a medical exam from which the series are obtained. Additionalexamples of selection of images for comparison/sorting are describedabove in reference to FIG. 6 and below in reference to FIG. 16. Furtherexamples of selection of images for comparison and to be sorted aredescribed in the '167 application.

At block 1402, if images to be sorted are from a 3D exam (e.g.,volumetric image data) then, if not already reconstructed and/orrendered, or if reconstruction and/or rendering is otherwise needed, thesystem may optionally automatically reconstruct and/or render theimages. Reconstruction and/or rendering of images may be based onregistration and/or matching techniques as described herein. Forexample, particular slices and slice thicknesses of the volumetric imagedata may be selected to match other images for comparison.

At block 1404, images to be sorted may optionally be registered/matchedso as to reduce artifactual differences, as described herein. Suchregistration/matching may be based on one or more matching rules, asdescribed above. Additional examples of registration and/or matching ofimages are described in the '167 application.

At block 1406, sorting rules for sorting of the images to be sorted areidentified by the system. As described above, sorting rules may beselected based on an identity of, and/or characteristics associatedwith, the user. Alternatively, the user may select particular sortingrules. For example, in an embodiment the system may present one or moreattributes to the user that may be used as a basis for sorting images(as described below). The user may then select one or more of theattributes, and a prioritization of the one or more attributes, suchthat the system may then apply sorting rules based on the selected oneor more attributes. In some embodiments, sorting rules (e.g., attributesfor sorting images) may be automatically selected based on a type ofexam and/or series, and/or based on another characteristic of the examand/or series. Examples of sorting rules are further described below.

At block 1408, the system determines a sorting of the images based onthe determined sorting rules. For example, the system may process theimages to be sorted, analyze attributes associated with the images, and,based on the attributes identified by the sorting rules, automaticallysort the images. Examples of sorting of images are further describedbelow.

At block 1410, the sorted images may optionally be registered/matched soas to reduce artifactual differences, such as by using one or moreprocesses described herein. In some embodiments, registration/matchingafter sorting may be more effective than registration/matching beforesorting (e.g., in optional block 1404) in that adjacent images may bebetter matched to each other. Such registration/matching after sortingmay be performed in addition to registration/matching before sorting, orin place of the registration/matching before sorting. Suchregistration/matching may be based on one or more matching rules, asdescribed above. Further, as mentioned above, in some embodiments,reconstructions and/or renderings of images from volumetric medical datamay be performed based on, or simultaneously with, registration/matchingand/or sorting. Additional examples of registration and/or matching ofimages are described in the '167 application.

At block 1412, images may be displayed by the system in the sorted orderin response to user inputs, as described above. For example, the imagesmay be displayed sequentially, in the sorted order, in a single imagepane such that the user may quickly and efficiently determinedifferences between adjacent images.

At block 1414, the system may receive a user input to change the sortingrules. For example, the user may decide that a different sorting of theimages may be more advantageous for identifying differences between twoexams/series. Accordingly, the user may, on-the-fly, update the sortingrules. In response, the system automatically, as indicated by arrow1418, determines a new sorting of the images based on the updatedsorting rules, optionally registers/matches the sorted images (e.g., inthe updated sorting order so adjacent images are registered with oneanother), and displays the images in the updated sorted order. In anembodiment, the sorting of the images may be updated in real-time orsubstantially real-time such that that user's review of the images isnot interrupted. In an embodiment, an image displayed to the user priorto updating the sorting rules remains a same image displayed to the userafter the images are re-sorted. Accordingly, the user may continue theirreview from the same image, but upon switching to adjacent images theimages will be shown in the re-sorted order.

If no updates to the sorting order are received by the system, then themethod continues with block 1412 wherein the sorted image series can benavigated by the user, as indicated by arrow 1416.

Referring to FIG. 15A, a flowchart illustrating a specific example ofsorting images according to the methods described above is provided. Inthe example of FIG. 15A, a user is sorting and viewing images and imageseries produced via dual-image radiography. FIG. 15C is an illustrationof four example x-ray images, 1532, 1534, 1536, and 1538, generated fromdual-image radiography. Each of the four images may be part of a seriesof images of the types described below. In this particular example,image 1532 is a low energy x-ray image (low energy radiograph) of achest of a patient, image 1534 is a high energy x-ray image (high energyradiograph) of the chest of the patient, image 1536 is a bones out viewimage (generated via processing of dual-energy radiography image data,also referred to as bone subtracted view) of the chest of the patient,and image 1538 is a tissue out view image (generated via processing ofdual-energy radiography image data, also referred to as tissuesubtracted view) of the chest of the patient. Such x-ray images may eachbe part of respective series of images of the same type as therespective types of the x-ray images, and each series may be part of a“dual-energy radiography” exam of the patient.

In order to evaluate the dual-energy radiography exam, and therebydetermine a health and a diagnosis of the patient, the user may desireto compare images of the various types, and obtained at various times,to determine differences among the images. Accordingly, the images ofone or more exams may be sorted and displayed by the system, based onvarious rules (including, sorting rules).

An example of such a sorting of two dual-energy radiography exams is nowdescribed. FIG. 15B is an illustration of example image series of twosuch dual-energy radiography exams, Exam I and Exam II. In the exampleof FIG. 15B, Exam I was obtained on 2012 Oct. 1, while Exam II wasobtained on 2013 Jan. 20. Each exam includes two example image series.Exam 1 includes Series A, including images of a traditional view (e.g.,low energy x-ray images), and Series B, including images of a bones outview. Exam 2 includes Series C, including images of a traditional view(e.g., low energy x-ray images), and Series D, including images of abones out view. Each image series includes three images, consecutivelynumbered and associated with their respective image series, as indicatedin FIG. 15B. In other examples one or more (or all) of the image seriesmay include more images, fewer images, or a single image.

Referring now to FIG. 15A, the user may have recently received Exam II,and may have indicated to the system that the user would like to nowevaluate the exam (or the system automatically initiates the method ofFIG. 15A in response to a user rule indicating that the sorting processshould be implement in response to receiving Exam II). Accordingly, atblock 1502 (and as described above in reference to block 1400 of FIG.14A), the system may determine, as described above, and based on one ormore rules associated with the user, that images of Exam II should becompared to images of the previous Exam I, as the previous Exam I is ofthe same patient and for a same clinical indication. Further, the systemmay determine that certain image series of Exam I and Exam II correspondto traditional and bones out views and are to be compared.Alternatively, the user may specify particular exam/series types forcomparison. The series to be compared are then accessed by the system.

In the example of FIG. 15A described below, series of images are sortedaccording to sorting rules. Such an example may be particularly usefulwhen each series includes a single image. An example of sorting ofindividual images of the series (e.g., when each series includes morethan one image) is described in references to FIGS. 5D and 5E below.

At block 1504 (and as described above in reference to blocks 1406 and1408 of FIG. 14A), the series to be sorted are sorted according to somesorting rules. As described above, the sorting rules may be provided bythe user, and/or may be determined based on an association with theuser. The sorting rules indicate attributes of series based upon whichseries are to be sorted. In the example of FIG. 15A, the sorting rulesindicate that the series are to be sorted based on two attributes: (1) atype of view of the series, and (2) a time of acquisition of the series.In the example, the attributes are prioritized such that the series areto be sorted, first, based on the type of view, and second, based on thetime of acquisition.

At block 1506, the image series as sorted, based on the rules, are shownsuch that the traditional view series C and A are ordered before thebones out view series D and B. Further, the series are secondly sortedbased on time of acquisition such that the most recent series art sortedfirst, resulting in a final sorting order of Series C, A, D, B. Theseries may then be displayed to the user in response to user inputs, asdescribed above. Further, as described above, the series may optionallybe registered and/or matched by the system. As also described above, inthe example in which each series includes a single image, the user maythen quickly flip through the images of the various types in the sortedorder to quickly and efficiently identify differences among thedifferent types of images, and the images obtained at different times.

Although not provided herein for ease of illustration, the sorting rulesmay further include an indication of sorting order associated with eachattribute. Thus, for example, the sorting rules may indicate sortingbased on time of acquisition, with the most recent appearing first (or,alternatively, the oldest appearing first). In another example, thesorting rules may indicate sorting based on a type of view, with theview ordered alphabetically and/or based on a particular order (e.g.,traditional first, then bones out, then tissue out, etc.).

At block 1507, the user can navigate through the sorted image series,such as to view a single image of the sorted image series in aparticular image pane on a display and update the single image displayedin that image pane to an adjacent image in the sorted image series basedon commands from a user input device.

In some implementations, the user may want the images sorted based ondifferent sorting rules (e.g., a different hierarchy of attributes). Ifsuch an alternative sorting order is indicated (e.g., by the user asimages sorted based on first sorting rules are being view or based onuser rules before viewing of the first sorted image series begins), atblock 1508 (and as described above in reference to block 1414 of FIG.14A), the series are re-sorted according to some updated sorting rules.As described above, the updated sorting rules may be provided by theuser, and/or may be determined based on an input by the user. In theexample of FIG. 15A, the re-sorting rules indicate that the series areto be sorted based on two attributes: (1) a time of acquisition of theseries, and (2) a type of view of the series, in this priority.

Accordingly, at block 1510, the image series as re-sorted, based on theupdated rules, are shown such that the series from most recent exam,series C and D are ordered before the series from the older exam, seriesA and B. Further, the series are secondarily sorted based on a type ofview such that the traditional view appears before the bones out view,resulting in a final sorting order of Series C, D, A, B. The series maythen be displayed to the user in response to user inputs, as describedabove. Further, as described above, the series may optionally beregistered and/or matched by the system after the resorting.

At block 1511, the user can navigate through the re-sorted image series.As noted above, in some embodiments the user can switch between multiplesorting orders of images series via a particular input command.

FIGS. 15D and 15E illustrate two more examples of sorting of the imagesof the four example image series of FIG. 15B.

As shown, in FIG. 15D, the sorting rules 1552 indicate that the imagesare to be sorted based on three attributes: (1) an image number, (2) atype of view of the image, and (3) a time of acquisition of the image.In the example, the attributes are prioritized such that the images areto be sorted, first, based on the image number, second, based on thetype of view, and third, based on the time of acquisition. Applicationof these sorting rules to the series of FIG. 5B results in the imagesbeing sorted as shown by the sorting results 1554.

As shown, in FIG. 15E, the sorting rules 1562 indicate that the imagesare to be sorted based on three attributes: (1) an image number, (2) atime of acquisition of the image, and (3) a type of view of the image.In the example, the attributes are prioritized such that the images areto be sorted, first, based on the image number, second, based on thetime of acquisition, and third, based on the type of view. Applicationof these sorting rules to the series of FIG. 5B results in the imagesbeing sorted as shown by the sorting results 1564.

In the present examples the images are sorted based on an image numberfor illustrative and convenience purposes. However, rather than imagenumber, more commonly images may be sorted based on an anatomicallocation or position, such that adjacent images in the sorting ordershow a same anatomical location or position. For convenience, imagenumber is used in the present examples.

Referring now to FIG. 14B, a flowchart illustrating selection ofclinical decision support (CDS) data for comparison is provided. Asdescribed above, selection of CDS data may be implemented in the CDSserver 171. The blocks of FIG. 14B may, in some embodiments, replaceblock 1401 of FIG. 14A. For example, in some embodiments, rather thancomparing and sorting two series of images or two exams, the system maydetermine a CDS series or CDS exam to compare to, and sort with, apatient exam. In other embodiments, the blocks of FIG. 14B may be inaddition to block 1401 of FIG. 14A. For example, in some embodiments,CDS data may be sorted along with multiple sets of other patient data(e.g., series and/or exams).

As described above, sorting of images, and display of the sorted images,allows a user to more accurately and efficiently detect differencesbetween images. In many of the examples described above, the user usesthe system to compare images from the same patient to efficientlyidentify differences. For example, the system may be used to compare aseries from one exam of the patient to another series from a second examon the patient, which could be the same or a different modality, e.g.,compare an MRI to an older MRI, compare an MRI to a PET obtained atsubstantially the same time, or compare a mammotomography series to abreast MRI series. In addition, a series from an exam might be comparedto another series in the same exam, e.g., post-contrast images vspre-contrast images. These examples may be considered a form ofperceptual enhancement.

Using CDS data as described below, in some embodiments the user is ableto view (e.g., as part of a sorted image series) images from the patientwith images from another person, such as an age-matched normal, todetermine if the patient's images are abnormal. These examples may beconsidered a form of clinical decision support, including a form ofcognitive enhancement.

Further, using CDS data as described below, in some embodiments the useris able to view (e.g., as part of a sorted image series) images from thepatient and reference images, such as an anatomical drawings, to aid himin determining features of an abnormality, such as anatomical location.These examples may be considered another form of clinical decisionsupport.

As described below, CDS data may include any data that may be sortedwith patient data to enable one or more of the advantages describedabove. For example, CDS data may include data from other patients (e.g.,patients considered “normal”), wherein patients may be filtered toinclude only those other patients having characteristics similar tothose of the patient; reference data (e.g., references images); and/orthe like. For simplicity, the description below refers to a CDS series(e.g., a series of references image, or a series of images from anotherpatient), however other types of CDS data may be utilized by the systemin similar ways.

In an embodiment, using CDS data, a patient's images may be compared toanother person's images (or a composite normal exam) for the purpose ofdetermining if the patient's images are normal or abnormal. For example,a patient might undergo a PET scan of the brain in a work-up ofdementia. The user's job may be to determine if the distribution ofactivity in the patient's brain is normal or abnormal. So, an axial PETseries from the patient's brain PET exam might be compared (via sortingas described herein) with an axial series from a normal aged-matchedcontrol to allow the user to more easily and accurately detect regionsof abnormal activity, where abnormal activity might be indicated bylower (or higher) standard uptake values (SUVs) at particular anatomicalareas represented in the scan from the normal aged-matched control.

In another example, a brain MRI in, e.g., a 7 month old child, might becompared to a normal aged-matched control to allow the user to moreeasily detect abnormalities in brain maturation, such as evolving MRIsignal intensity changes related to myelination.

Such CDS data (e.g., normal aged-matched control studies) may be storedin the CDS server 171. One or more rules of the user preferences andrules database 124 may automatically determine CDS series for sortingand display based on, for example, user preferences, exam type, and/orother clinical information associated with the exam. For example, when aPET scan is performed for the work-up of dementia, a relevant normalscan may be automatically retrieved and sorted.

In an embodiment, retrieval and sorting of comparison scans may beperformed manually, on-demand (e.g., in response to a user input).

In another embodiment, a CDS series may include, for example, anatomicaldrawings labeling the anatomy and anatomically matching the patient'sseries. For example, when reading a CT of the liver or MRI of the brain,cross sectional images containing anatomical drawings may beautomatically chosen and sorted to allow the user to more easily andaccurately determine the anatomical locations of lesions in thepatient's series, for example, the genu of the corpus callosum in thecase of a brain MRI.

In one embodiment, a CDS series may be registered and/or matched, asdescribed above. Thus, a CDS series may be selected to match anorientation of the patient's series and/or the CDS series may bereformatted, registered, and/or morphed to match the location andgeometry of images in the patient's exam.

At block 1450, a patient exam and/or a series associated with a patientmay be received. For example, the patient exam may be select by a userfor review. Patient information may be received and/or accessed by thesystem such that one or more characteristics associated with the patientmay be determined.

In an embodiment, patient information may be retrieved from data storedin, and/or attributes of, an exam, series, and/or image (as describedabove). In some embodiments, patient information may be obtained fromother sources.

For example, in some embodiments the system may include a softwaremodule/process (e.g., a webservice) that is connected to an exam readingsystem of a user and that passively gathers information regarding exams,reports, images, etc., read by the user. For example, when a radiologistreads an exam, the exam may include structured data, or structured datamay be derived from the report using natural language processing.Similarly, images of an exam may be processed using machine learning,and may read annotations on the images. In some instances, imageannotations may adhere to a standard such as the automated image mark-up(AIM) standard via which information may be gathered. Such gatheredinformation may comprise patient information useable by the system, suchas to determine a more relevant CDS series (or series) for comparisonwith the patient exam.

At block 1452, one or more rules are accessed to determine, e.g.,whether a CDS series is to be compared, and/or what type of CDS seriesis to be compared (as described above in reference to the variousexamples).

In an embodiment, as a user reads an exam, the user receives, from thesystem (at block 1453), a prompt to view CDS data related to the exam.For example, the prompt may say, “would you like to compare to theclosest age and gender matched patient with the same imaging findings(or normal findings) for this type of exam?” Accordingly, the user mayindicate that CDS data is to be obtained and compared to an exam. Thus,a sorted image series may include multiple image series of patientimages (such as two image series of a same modality taken some time,e.g., weeks or months, apart in order to determine differences), as wellas one or more CDS image series. Thus, in various embodiments (whetheror not including CDS data)_more than two series/exams may be selectedfor comparison and sorted. For example, 3, 4, 5, or more, series/examsmay be selected. As described above, in various embodiments, themultiple sorted series of images may be displayed in one or more imagepanes of the user interface.

In some embodiments, a ratio of images included in a sorted image seriesfrom the various image series and/or CDS series sorted varies. Forexample, in a sorted image series including two image series of apatient (e.g., two MRI series separated by two months) and one CDSseries of a baseline MRI from a patient having certain characteristicssimilar to the patient (e.g., gender, age, etc.), the user may not wantor need images from the CDS image series interleaved between each set ofmatched images in the two MRI image series. Thus, the CDS image seriesmay be interspersed into the sorted series at a different ratio, perhapsincluding an image from the CDS image series in only every second,third, fourth, etc., set of matched images from the other image series.In another embodiment, the CDS image series may be included in thesorted image series, but only displayed in response to a predefinedinput from the user. For example, as the user scrolls through a sortedimage series of the two patient MRI series noted above, the user couldprovide a particular input (e.g., pressing Control) while scrolling toindicate that a CDS image should be shown as the next image in the imageseries (e.g., so that unless the particular input is pressed by theuser, the CDS images may not be displayed in the comparison pane). Inother embodiments, CDS images may be interleaved and/or accessed withreference to images of the patient under review in various othermatters.

At block 1454, the determined CDS series is retrieved from the CDSserver 171. The method then proceeds with block 1402 of FIG. 14B, asdescribed above.

Using the computing system 150, in an embodiment a user may manuallysort matched medical images, e.g., order the selected/comparison medicalimages for progressive display. The system may also provide an interfaceto re-order images or image series, and may further enable reorientingimages (flip, rotate) and/or changing other image characteristics inorder to best match the display. In various embodiments, more than twoseries/exams may be selected for comparison and sorted. For example, 3,4, 5, or more, series/exams may be selected. Further, multiple sortedseries of images may be displayed in one or more image panes of the userinterface.

VI. EXAMPLE USER INTERFACES AND INTERACTIONS FOR AUTOMATIC SELECTION ANDDISPLAY OF COMPARISON IMAGES

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating another example operation of thesystem, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Dependingon the implementation, the system may perform methods having more and/orfewer blocks than are shown, and/or the blocks may occur in a differentorder and/or in parallel in order to accomplish certain methods and/orprocesses of the system. In an embodiment, one or more blocks in theflowchart may be performed by, or implemented in, one or more computermodules and/or processors, as is described above and below withreference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method of selecting and displaying comparisonimages, series, and/or exams. Determination of images/image series/examsfor comparison, as described elsewhere herein, may be based on rules(e.g., matching rules) selected based on an identity of, and/orcharacteristics associated with, the user. As mentioned above inreference to FIGS. 6 and 14A, examples of registration and/or matchingof images in addition to those provided here (in reference to FIG. 16)are described in the '167 application. Additionally, any of the examplesdescribed here in reference to FIG. 16 may also be applied to theembodiments described in reference to FIGS. 6 and 14A above.

At block 1602, an image and/or series (and/or exam, in some embodiments)is selected by the user for viewing. Example user interfaces for suchselection are described below in reference to FIGS. 17 and 18A-18C.Alternatively, the system may determine images for comparison (e.g., incomparison panes) based on one or more user preferences as describedbelow in reference to FIG. 19E.

At block 1604, the system may, as mentioned above, automaticallydetermine, based on one or more matching rules, one or more comparisonimages and/or image series (and/or exams). Such comparison images/seriesmay be selected from a same exam as the selected image/series and/oranother exam. For example, as described above, corresponding series froma previously obtained exam of the patient may be selected for comparisonto a current series.

The matching rules may establish criteria for matching related imagesand/or image series. For example, matching rules may be established toselect medical data based upon any of the following non-limitingcriteria: modality (e.g., MRI, CT, X-ray, etc.); exam type (e.g., leftknee X-ray, CT Chest, MRI Brain, etc.); archive status (e.g., has theexam been archived, archived and restored, not yet archived); assignedphysician (e.g., has the exam been assigned to a particular physicianfor interpretation); exam age (e.g., how long ago was the exam done);patient age; any item in a DICOM header file (e.g., such as orientation,contrast use, thickness of slices, field of view, MRI tissue contrastweighting); time/day of acquisition; and/or any other attribute and/orimage characteristic. In further examples, criteria may includeinformation extracted through analysis of images (e.g., via one or moreCAP), such as a view type of an image determined through automaticanalysis of the image. With regard to some criteria, such as MRI tissuecontrast weighting, the rules may analyze the MRI pulse sequence and theimaging parameters in order to determine the tissue contrast weightingand subcategorize images into weighting categories or weighting names.

The matching rules can be used to match medical images in the sameand/or different medical series. For example, assume the medical imagesrelate to three series each having 6 x-rays. The matching rules can beestablished such that like views among each of the different series aregrouped together for subsequent viewing. The matching rules be definedusing simple or complex search expressions such as “AND” or “OR.”

In another example, the matching rules may establish criteria formatching related images based on time and/or user preferences. Thus, asdescribed below in reference to FIG. 19E, images of different typesobtained at a same time may be selected for comparison (e.g., a Lateralchest view and a PA chest view).

At block 1606, the system may optionally register and/or match theselected images/series and/or the comparison images/series, as describedabove in reference to block 1404 and/or 1408 of FIG. 14A. While notshown in FIG. 16, in some embodiments the images/series may beregistered and/or matched after block 1608 (wherein particular imagesare selected for display) such that adjacent images in the sorted imageseries match each other.

At block 1608, user selected and comparison images are displayed to theuser simultaneously in multiple image panes of a user interface. FIG. 17illustrates an example of such a user interface of the system, displayedon an electronic display 1701, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 17 includes many aspects similar to the user interfaceof FIG. 3 described above. The user interface of FIG. 17 includes fourimage panes: 1702, 1704, 1706, and 1708. In an example, the user mayhave selected the image shown in pane 1702, or alternatively a seriesfrom which the image shown in pane 1702 is obtained. In response, thesystem may have automatically determined, based on one or more matchingrules, one or more other image series and/or images for comparison tothe selected image/image series. The determined comparison images(and/or images from the determined comparison image series) may then besimultaneously displayed in the other panes 1704, 1706, and/or 1708. Inthe example of FIG. 17, the user is viewing four series, each of a sameview type, each for a Brain MRI Exam of a patient obtained at differenttimes. Thus, the user may compare corresponding images for the patient'sbrain from a current exam, from an exam obtained on Oct. 13, 2005 (pane1704), from an exam obtained on Feb. 24, 2005 (pane 1706), and from anexam obtained on Oct. 8, 2003 (pane 1708).

In an embodiment, the user may select an image series and/or an image ofthe image series to view. In response the system may determine one ormore comparison series. The one or more comparison series may beselected from a same or different exam of the selected image series.Further, when the user views an image from the selected series, thesystem may automatically determine matching images from the one or morecomparison image series. For example, the system may determine imagesthat match in regards to an anatomical area displayed. Thus, the usermay be able to easily compare the displayed images. Further, asmentioned above, the images may be registered and/or matched withregards to one or more image characteristics.

In an embodiment, more or fewer image panes than are shown in FIG. 17may be included in the user interface, and/or the image panes may bearranged differently. For example, the user interface may include 3, 5,6, 7, 8 or more image panes. In an embodiment, the number of image panesin the user interface is based on a number of comparison image seriesdetermined by the system based on one or more matching rules.

In various embodiments, the user preferences and rules database 124 mayinclude “display rules” that may indicate ways images and/or imageseries are to be displayed in user interfaces of the system. Forexample, an image or exam matching particular criteria in the displayrules may be displayed with a certain pixel window level or width(similar to brightness and contrast), in color, based on a certain colormap, opacity map, or other image characteristics. Display rules may beuser-defined allowing the user to determine the timing, positioning, andsize of displayed selected/comparison images. For example, a user candefine that selected/comparison medical images are all displayedconcurrently on a display. Also, for example, a user can define that themost recent of the selected/comparison medical images are displayed onthe left hand portion of the display and the other selected/comparisonmedical images are displayed in sequence on the right hand side of thedisplay, the sequence advancing in response to user prompting. In oneembodiment, the display rules include directives (e.g., timing,positioning, and size). As an example, directives can include thefollowing for identifying location information: TOP_DISPLAY,BOTTOM_DISPLAY, RIGHT_DISPLAY, LEFT_DISPLAY, CENTER_DISPLAY.Furthermore, if the number of comparison medical images is variable, thedisplay rules can include instructions for identifying selected medicalimages based upon further rules, such as using the matching rules listedabove. In addition, the display rules may or may not define how manyimages or image series are displayed per monitor, a display grid (e.g.,2×3, 5×4, etc.), or whether like images are displayed neighboring eachother side by side horizontally or vertically. Furthermore, the displayrules may also specify how different selected/comparison medical imagesfrom different series may be sorted together for successive display.Using the display rules, the user can provide display rules such thatrelated medical images are readily comparable.

In an embodiment, display rules may be set to display pre- andpost-contrast axial T1 weighted images from a brain MRI from the sameexam in adjacent panes on a monitor. Display rules may also be set todisplay axial T2 weighted MRI images from a prior spine MRI adjacent toaxial T2 weighted images from the current exam. Display rules may alsobe set to display a PA projection from a chest radiograph from a priorexam adjacent to the same projection from the current exam. As describedbelow in reference to FIG. 19E, display rules may be set to displayimages of particular types in particular image panes (e.g., a PA chestview in one image pane and a Lateral chest view in another image pane)such that, for example, the user may view a particular preferredarrangement of images as images are flipped through in the userinterface.

It is noted that the display rules may define user display preferencesthat are specific for particular types of medical images, e.g., theimaging modality, the body part, whether there is one exam, two, or moremedical images being displayed. In one embodiment, one set of displayrules can apply to one modality and another set of display rules canapply to another modality. In addition, the display rules may includespecific triggers or warnings that occur if the user-defined displayrules are not satisfied.

In various embodiments, display rules may be based on any imagecharacteristic, as described above. Further, in some embodiments,display rules may be stored as image characteristics.

At block 1610, the system determines whether or not the user hasprovided a user input to change a displayed image series. For example,in reference to FIG. 17, the user may provide an input, such as akeyboard press and/or a gesture input, to change the image seriesdisplayed in pane 1702 to another image series. For example, the usermay want to view a different image series of the exam of the patient,e.g., another view of the brain MRI exam. In response, as indicated byarrow 1618, the system may again, at block 1604, determine one or morecomparison series. In some instances, newly determined comparison seriesmay be selected from some exams as those of the previous comparisonseries, providing continuity for the user during review. In anembodiment, the user may change the image series of any of the displayedpanes (e.g., including the comparison image series), and the imageseries of the other panes are automatically updated by the system.

At block 1612, the system determines whether or not the user hasprovided a user input to change a displayed image to another displayedimage of a displayed image series. For example, in reference to FIG. 17,the user may provide an input, such as a keyboard press and/or a gestureinput, to change the image displayed in pane 1702 to another image ofthe series. For example, the user may want to view a different slice ofthe particular brain MRI image series. In response, at block 1614, thesystem may automatically update the images displayed in the other panesto display different images, from each of the respective image series,that correspond to the image selected by the user. For example, theother images may be updated to display images of their respective imageseries corresponding to a same anatomical position as the selectedimage. In another example, each image series may comprise images of asame type but taken at different times (e.g., one series may includemultiple PA chest views from multiple exams of a patient, while anotherseries may include multiple Lateral chest view from multiple exams of apatient). In this example, the other image may be updated to display animage of its image series corresponding to a same exam/time ofacquisition as the selected image (as described below in reference toFIG. 19E).

In an embodiment, the user may change the image of any of the displayedpanes (e.g., including the comparison images), and the images of theother panes are automatically updated by the system.

In an embodiment, as indicated at block 1614, in some instances someimage series may not include a corresponding image to be displayed. Forexample, one of the displayed image series may not include a particularimage slice, a particular image that corresponds to an anatomicalposition, and/or a particular image of a certain view type. In theseinstances, as described below in reference to FIG. 19E, the system mayadvantageously insert placeholder images (e.g., a blank image, agrayscale image, etc.) and/or otherwise not display an image, whilemaintaining the sorted orders of each respective image series. Thus, thesystem may avoid displaying unrelated images to the user, and enablecontinuous, synchronized, and efficient review of multiple images serieseven where some image data may not be available.

As indicated by arrow 1620, if no input is received from the user themethod continues at block 1608, displaying images and waiting for inputfrom the user.

In an embodiment, a first user input (e.g., pressing an arrow orpageup/pagedown key, a side-to-side hand gesture movement, etc.) maychange displayed image series, while another user input (e.g., a scrollof a mouse wheel, a forward-and-back hand gesture movement, an handrotation gesture, etc.) may change displayed images. In an embodiment,user inputs may apply to a one of the panes that is currently selectedby, e.g., a mouse cursor hovering over the pane, the user's hand beinglocated near the pane, the pane being highlighted in the user interface,and/or the like. In an embodiment, the user interface may enable a userto “lock” certain panes such that the user's inputs only affect“unlocked” panes. Thus, the user may compare other images/image seriesto a “frozen” image in one or more of the panes. In another example, theuser may similarly select a single pane to be “unlocked,” causing allthe other panes to be “locked.”

FIGS. 18A-18C illustrate example user interactions with the system viaanother example user interface of the system, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. As shown, the user interface of FIG. 18A isdisplayed on an electronic display 1801 of the system. The userinterface includes a row of thumbnail images 1802 along a top portion ofthe user interface. In various embodiments, the row of thumbnails may bein any location of the display. Each of the thumbnail images 1802 (e.g.,thumbnail 1804) may be an image from a different image series. In someinstances all the thumbnails are from a same exam, while in otherinstances each thumbnail is from a different exam. The user may scrollthe row of thumbnails images 1802 to view representative images ofvarious series of an exam (and/or multiple exams).

To view one of the images in more detail, the user may provide a userinput to select a thumbnail image and/or drag a thumbnail image into areview portion 1805 of the user interface. Dragging of thumbnail image1804 from the row to location 1806 is illustrated in FIG. 17 by thedashed arrow. As illustrated in FIG. 18B, once selected and/or draggedinto the review portion 1805, a larger version 1822 of the imagecorresponding to the thumbnail may be displayed to the user. The usermay then provide user input to move to different images of the imageseries of the displayed image, and/or provide user input to move todifferent image series, as described above.

In an embodiment, selecting and/or dragging the thumbnail image to thereview portion 1805 causes the system to automatically determine one ormore comparison images/series, as described above in reference to FIGS.16 (e.g., blocks 1604, 1606, and 1608) and 17. For example, as shown inFIG. 18C, other comparison series may be determined by the system, andrelevant images from those series may be displayed in other images paneof the user interface (e.g., image panes 1824, 1826, and 1828). The usermay interact with the user interface of FIG. 18C in various ways asdescribed above in reference to FIG. 17.

In an embodiment, the user interface may include one or more “sort”buttons, such as sort button 1842. Selection of the sort button causesthe system to sort, based on various rules and as described above inreference to FIGS. 6 and 14B (among others), either image seriespreviously determined for comparison and displayed in the userinterface, or other comparison image series. In an embodiment, uponselection of the “sort” button, a larger image pane may be added to theuser interface that overlays the other image panes 1822, 1824, 1826, and1828. Accordingly, the user may view the images in even greater detail,and quickly flip among the images to so as to have another method ofdetecting differences among the images/image series.

In an embodiment, a selected image, and/or an image on which the “sort”button is pressed, may be the first image displayed in the image panedisplaying the sorted images.

In an embodiment, the selected thumbnail image will be enlarged in apreferred image pane, and/or an image pane to which it is dragged.

In an embodiment, different user inputs when selecting and/or draggingthe thumbnail image may cause the selected image to either be displayedalone in greater detail, or compared to other image series (as in FIG.18C). For example, dragging the thumbnail image by pressing a left mousebutton may cause the image to be enlarged on its own, while dragging thethumbnail image by pressing a right mouse button may cause thecomparison image series to be determined and displayed in the userinterface.

VII. AUTO-REGISTRATION WITH SHUFFLE MODE PRESENTATION OF CHEST X-RAYS

FIGS. 19A-19E illustrate implementations of auto-registration techniquesthat can be used in conjunction with image shuffling techniques in orderto aid a user in comparing medical images (e.g., chest radiographs inthese examples). A chest radiograph may be the most common medicalimaging procedure in the world. Currently doctors and other healthcareworkers compare chest radiographs side by side, such as to compare aprevious chest radiograph with a current chest radiograph of a patient.

FIG. 19A illustrates two postero-anterior (PA) chest radiographs 1902and 1904 obtained on the same patient on different dates (e.g., severaldays, weeks, or months apart). In this example, the centering and fieldof view of the images 1902 and 1904 are not identical, perhaps due toone or more artifactual differences resulting from differences in theimage acquisition environments. Thus, comparison of the images in asorted series (such as by alternating display of images 1902 and 1904 ata same image pane on a display) would not be optimal in aiding theviewer in identifying small differences between the images overlapbetween common anatomical portions of the images are not aligned. As aresult, without application of auto-registration of the images, they mayonly be compared side by side.

FIG. 19B illustrates the same two images 1902 and 1904, but with theaortic arch (sometimes called the aortic knob on a PA chest radiograph)marked on the left image by marker 1903. Depending on the embodiment,the marker 1903 could be manually provided by a user or, advantageously,identified by a computer algorithm that identifies this landmarkstructure automatically. Similarly, the aortic arch may be identified inthe image 1904, either manually or by an automated process.

With this landmark structure identified in each of the two chestradiographs 1902 and 1904, an automated registration of the image may beperformed, based on this common structure in each image. In FIG. 19C,one or both of the images have been automatically registered/matched(e.g., they have been matched with regards to one or more imagecharacteristics, such as position, magnification level, window, etc.) intheir respective image panes based on the identified aortic knobpositions on the two side by side images. The images are denoted asimages 1902R and 1904R to indicate that one or both of them have beenmodified from the original images 1902 and 1904, respectively. Dependingon the embodiment, only one of the images may be modified (e.g., thecomparison images may be 1902 and 1904R, or may be 1902R and 1904).

In the example of FIG. 19C, a horizontal line illustrates that theaortic knobs in images 1902R and 1904R are at a same level (whereas theyare at different levels in images 1902 and 1904). As noted above, otherregistration modifications may be made to one or more of the images 1902or 1904, such as using information in the DICOM meta-file toautomatically adjust the images to a same scale (and/or any other imagecharacteristic).

However, in other embodiments, the computer system may make otheradjustments to alter the scales in order to best match the actualanatomy understanding that different radiographic images can showvarious levels of geometric magnification based on the projection (AP vsPA) or distance of the patient from the detector and x-ray tube.

In the example of FIGS. 19A-19D, the aortic knob is chosen as thelandmark for matching chest radiographs because it is more consistentlyidentifiable and relatively central in location than other possiblelandmarks. Furthermore, the aortic knob may be more consistent in sizewhether the image is taken AP or PA. In some embodiments, otherlandmarks, and/or multiple landmarks, could be used for registrationpurposes, such as in addition to the aortic knob or instead of theaortic knob. For example, clavicles (c), AC joints (ac) or ribs (r),which are labeled in image 1902R of FIG. 19C, may be useful in adjustingfor position or obliquity differences (and/or other artifactualdifferences, such as rotational, translational, or scaling differences)between images.

With images 1902R and 1904R registered in this manner (e.g., via anautomated process of identifying the aortic knob in each of the images1902 and 1904 and adjusting the images to be registered in view of thoseidentified positions), the images can advantageously be presented in asorted series for comparison, such as by alternative display of theimages in a particular comparison pane on a display in order to allowthe user to more easily identify actual differences in the images.

In the example of FIG. 19D, image 1904R is overlaid on image 1902R toillustrate relative positioning of the images when aligned based on theaortic knob landmark (e.g., so that the aortic knob in each of theimages 1902R in 1904R is at a same location on the display). Thus, theimages can be compared by paging through a stack of imageschronologically, or otherwise, ordered instead of comparing themside-by-side.

FIG. 19E illustrates an example of comparing multiple images (in thisexample, chest radiographs) simultaneously. As described above inreference to, for example, FIGS. 10-12, the system may display two ormore comparison panes (e.g., 1010A and 1010B) simultaneously on adisplay device (e.g., display device 210). Further, as described abovein reference to, for example, FIG. 16, comparison images may bedetermined by the system in various ways. Thus, multiple interleaved orotherwise sorted image series may be concurrently displayed in separatecomparison panes.

These comparison panes (which may include two, three, four, or morepanes) may be organized and/or positioned in various arrangements. Forexample, the comparison panes may be positioned to the left and right ofone another, above and below one another, in a grid, and/or according toany other arrangement. The number and positioning of the comparisonpanes may be determined based on one or more user preferences, and/ormay be predefined by the system. Such comparison pane determinations maybe based on one or more display rules as described above in referenceto, for example, FIG. 16.

Further, the system may be configured to display particular images,image series, and/or types of images, etc. in each comparison pane.Thus, for example, any image characteristic/attribute may be associatedwith the comparison panes. These associations between panes and imagecharacteristics/attributes may be determined based on one or more userpreferences, and/or may be predefined by the system. Thus, the systemmay advantageously be configured to display images, which may be flippedthrough by a user, in particular arrangements (e.g., hanging protocols).For example, one user may prefer to see left-facing lateral view imagesin one pane, while another user may prefer to see right-facing lateralview images in that pane.

For example, as indicated by image set 1922, a user may view two chestradiograph images 1932 and 1934 side by side (e.g., in comparison panes1010A and 1010B). Images of image set 1922 may be related, e.g., theymay be part of a same exam (e.g., obtained on the same day), and/orotherwise related. The images may also each be of particular types(and/or have a particular one or more image characteristics) and may beassociated with respective series of images. For example, image 1932 maybe a PA view of a chest (and part of a sorted image series of PA viewsincluding images 1936 and 1940) while image 1934 may be a Lateral viewof a chest (and part of a sorted image series of Lateral views includingimage 1942). The image series associated with each image may becomprised of sorted image series that may be sorted according to anymethod described herein. For example, each image series may comprisemultiple images of a same type that were obtained at different times(e.g., as part of different exams), but associated with a same patient.Further, the images of each image series may be registered/matched(e.g., scale, skew, contrast, etc. may be automatically adjusted in oneor both images so they match and are more comparable) to enableefficient comparison as the user moves/flips from one image to the next.

As mentioned above, as the user provides input, the system may display(e.g., flip through) images of the multiple image series in a sortedorder. Thus, for example, the system may replace images 1932 and 1934(in their respective comparison panes) with images 1936 and 1938 (intheir respective comparison panes, as indicated by 1924). In response toa further input, the system may replace images 1936 and 1938 (in theirrespective comparison panes) with images 1940 and 1942 (in theirrespective comparison panes, as indicated by 1926).

As mentioned above, each set of images (1922, 1924, and 1926) may berelated (e.g., part of a same exam), however in some instances aparticular exam may not include an image or image series of the typeassociated with a comparison pane. For example, sometimes a patient mayhave PA and Lateral chest exam one day, a single view AP chest exam thenext day, and an AP and Lateral chest exam the day after that. Tocompare the images associated with these exams by flipping through theimages in the comparison panes, the system may (as described above inreference to FIG. 16) advantageously insert placeholder images (e.g., ablank image such as image 1938, a grayscale image, etc.) and/orotherwise not display an image, while maintaining the sorted orders ofeach respective image series. For example, as the user flips though thetwo related image series of FIG. 19E, because there is no Lateral chestview image related to PA chest view image 1936, a blank 1938 may bedisplayed in comparison pane 1010B. Thus, the system may avoiddisplaying unrelated images to the user, and enable continuous,synchronized, and efficient review of multiple images series even wheresome image data may not be available.

In various implementations, as described above, images/image series maybe determined to be related (e.g., matched) based on various imagecharacteristics and/or other information. For example, DICOM headerinformation may be analyzed to determine related series of images. In anembodiment, the system may perform one or more CAP on images/imagesseries to determine relationships. For example, in the context of chestradiographs, images may be analyzed by the system to determine datesand/or other information contained within the images that may be usedfor matching images/image series.

Further, in some implementations the system may perform one or more CAPto identify image characteristics (e.g., as may be useful when no DICOMheader information is present). For example, in the context of chestradiography, the system may analyze an image to determine that the imageis a PA chest view, AP chest view, Lateral chest view, and/or the like.

Thus, the system may automatically determine an image series with whichan image should be associated, an ordering of images within the imageseries, and a comparison pane where images of the images series are tobe displayed.

In some implementations, the system may enable the user to manuallyregister images by, for example, overlaying the images and/or placingthe images side-by-side and providing tools for efficiently adjustingvarious image characteristics of one or both images.

As mentioned above, the inventors have found that users using the systemto flip through medical images (e.g., to analyze the images and performdiagnoses based on the images) are faster (e.g., 15% faster or more) andmore accurate than users using traditional methods of comparing images.

As with other examples herein, shuffling of two images (or two imageseries or exams) are discussed for purposes of illustration of thevarious automated processing techniques, but the same processes could beused for more images, so that a user could easily page or scroll througha sorted image series including chest radiographs (or any other image)taken over time to more efficiently and accurately detected changes. Forexample, registration of chest radiographs of a child taken every 3months from birth to age 6 may require significant adjustments invarious image characteristics in order to register the images such thata “timeline” of changes over those years (e.g., including 20-40images—none of which have precise alignment prior to auto-registration)can be viewed in a slideshow (or “cine” mode, whether automaticallyadvancing through images at a predefined interval, such as ¼, ½ or 1second, or manually in response to user input) and can provide to a uservisual comparisons that may be useful for diagnosis or treatment of thepatient. Without such auto-registration techniques (e.g., based onalignment of the aortic knob that may be automatically detected in eachof a plurality of images), such a timeline of multiple images would bedifficult to derive useful data from, as positions of anatomicalstructures (e.g., the or aortic knob) would move from one position toanother (as well as having other image characteristics different fromone image to another) as each subsequent image is displayed.

In an embodiment, the system generates a chest radiograph sorted seriesin substantially real-time so that differences in chest radiographs canbe identified with relative ease and time constraints on the viewinguser. Without such an automated registration and sorting algorithm, auser could not practically make a comparison of chest radiographs in asimilarly beneficial manner, especially where the number of chestradiographs is larger than two.

In one example implementation that makes use of certain featuresdiscussed herein, the system provides a specific hanging protocol for achest radiograph combined with shuffling, combined with image analyticsto select the proper views, combined with image analytics to result indisplay with matching orientation, registration, and scale.

VIII. MONTAGE IMAGE SORTING

FIG. 20 illustrates an example montage that may be displayed on acomputing device of a user. In the illustration of FIG. 20, the imagesof the montage are those selected by the user as key images, such as atthe time of review of an MRI of the Brain. In one embodiment, the usercomposes the montage by selecting one or more key images from one ormore image series, and by adjusting various image characteristics of theimages (e.g., view settings of the images, such as window/levelsettings, centering, cropping, magnification, annotations, insets,etc.). The same image might be selected more than once, but shown on themontage with different image characteristics. FIG. 21 illustratesanother example montage with a different number of images, includingimages that are formatted differently and include annotations (e.g.,arrows pointing to areas of specific interest).

In some implementations, montages are saved as separate files, such asseparate image files that are essentially a screenshot of a montage(e.g., a snapshot of the montages of FIG. 20 or 21) or two or moreimages stitched together into a single image. Thus, the montage that isconfigured by the user may be recalled at a later time. In oneembodiment, the montage image file may be notated as a key image, suchas according to the DICOM specification. The montage might includeimages from multiple exams, or might include reference images such asillustrations or medical images exemplifying pathological or normalconditions. A montage may be added to an exam or series such that it maybe sorted with other images, for example.

In some implementations, a montage having one or more images can bestored in one or multiple ways, including (1) storage of the completecomposite montage image and/or (2) storage of sufficient informationregarding each image so that the entire montage can be recreated uponfuture display or the individually stored images can be displayed,depending on the user's preferences, depending on the displayenvironment (such as aspect ratio of the display window, monitorresolution, a combination of user preferences and display environment,or other factors.) For example, information regarding the arrangement ofimages in the montage, as well as information regarding display settingsof respective images (e.g., magnification, brightness, centering,cropping, filters, annotations, insets, etc.) may be stored. Thesemontage characteristics may then be recalled at a future time and usedto re-build the montage. In this implementation, storage of an image ofthe entire montage may not be necessary, while in other embodiments themontage image (e.g., a snapshot of the montage) may be stored and usedin certain circumstances, such as when the montage is to be displayed ona display having essentially the same resolution and aspect ratio as thedisplay on which the montage was originally created. As used herein, thearrangement information included in montage characteristics may includea number of rows and columns of medical images in the montage,indications of specific locations of each medical image in the montage,indications of an order that medical images of the montage aredisplayed, and/or any other information that may be usable to readconstruct a montage on the same or another computing device based on thelayout of the montage images.

Additional examples of montages and uses of montages are described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/572,397, filed Aug. 10, 2012, andtitled “DYNAMIC MONTAGE RECONSTRUCTION,” (the “397 application”), thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entiretyand for all purposes, as if set forth fully herein.

As mentioned above, and according to any of the image viewing techniquesdescribed above, while viewing images (e.g., of one or more exams,series, etc., which may or may not be sorted), the user may designatecertain images as key images. For example, the user may click a mousebutton, keyboard shortcut, or by other input means indicate that animage is a key image. In some implementations, key images may be placedin a montage. For example, the user may indicate that certain images areto be placed in a montage by designation of those images as key images.

As described above and in the '397 application, images of a montage maybe stored as separate files and information necessary to reconstruct themontage may be stored, and/or automatically combined into a singlemontage image. At the time a user requests to view a montage, the systemmay generate the montage, if necessary. Further, the system and/or usermay determine if the montage is to be presented/assembled as originallystored, broken up into individual image components, and/or otherwiserearranged.

In some implementations, when an image is designated as a key image, anannotation is added to an image, and/or a user otherwise indicates thatthey want to add the image to a montage, the system may automaticallyperform additional actions with respect to that image. The actionsperformed, and the user input that causes the actions to be performed,may be based on one or more user preferences.

In one implementation, in response to such a user input (e.g., markingan image as a key image), the system automatically adds the indicatedimage to a series/exam in an appropriate location in the series/exam(e.g., in a sorted location). For example, suppose a series/examconsists of 8 images, some of which are multi-frame images (MF), andsome of which are single frame images (SF). In this example, theseries/exam may include the following images:

-   -   Image 1—MF    -   Image 2—MF    -   Image 3—SF    -   Image 4—MF    -   Image 5—SF    -   Image 6—SF

In this example, the user may indicate certain sub-images of one or moreof the multi-frame images, and/or one or more single frame images, forfurther actions (e.g., may indicate as key images, may indicate asimages to add to a montage, may add annotations, and/or the like). Forexample, the user may indicate a few frames (e.g., sub-images) of Image1 (e.g., frames 32 and 38), and also Image 3. Thus, the system may,based on the user preferences add these indicated images to a montageand/or save the indicated images to the series/exam. Accordingly, in theexample, the series/exam becomes:

-   -   Image 1—MF    -   Image 1.32—SF    -   Image 1.34—SF    -   Image 2—MF    -   Image 3—SF    -   Image 3.1—SF    -   Image 4—MF    -   Image 5—SF    -   Image 6—SF    -   Montage

As shown, the images are automatically added to the series/exam and arefurther automatically sorted such that they are located in appropriatelocations in the series/exam. Images of a series/exam may be sortedbased on one or more sorting rules and/or user preferences, as describedherein. Advantageously, adding the images to the series/exam in thesorted locations may enable the user to easily display the series/exam'sinitial images and the added images in sequence (e.g., via any of themethods described above), and also be able to see the montage in aseparate sequence.

In various implementations, the images that are added to the series/exammay be sorted based on various sorting rules, image characteristics,user preferences, and/or any other criteria, as described above inreference to the various embodiments of the disclosure. For example, theimages may be sorted based on image numbers such that added images areadded near (e.g., immediately after) an existing image from which theadded image is derived.

In an implementation, the user may indicate where in a series/exam animage is to be added. Additionally, as mentioned above, the indicatedimages may be added based on one or more user preferences and/or imagecharacteristics.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of the system,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Depending on theimplementation, the system may perform methods having more and/or fewerblocks than are shown, and/or the blocks may occur in a different orderand/or in parallel in order to accomplish certain methods and/orprocesses of the system. In an embodiment, one or more blocks in theflowchart may be performed by, or implemented in, one or more computermodules and/or processors, as is described above and below withreference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 22 illustrated a method of generating montages and/or insertingparticular images indicated by a user into a series or exam. At block2202, the system displays an image (or frame of an image, e.g., asub-image) of a series or exam according to any of the methods describedherein.

At block 2204, the system receives a user input with respect to thedisplayed image/frame. For example, the user may indicate an image/frameis a key image/frame, may annotate the image/frame, and/or may otherwiseindicate the image/frame is to be processed according to the methoddescribed below. The user inputs that cause the system to perform themethod described below may be based on one or more user preferences, oneor more image characteristics, and/or the like.

At block 2206, the system optionally adds the displayed image/frame thathas been indicated by the user to a montage, as described above.Further, the montage may be added to the series/exam of the image/frame,or to another series/exam. In some implementations, the user mayindicate image characteristics to be applied to the image/frame added tothe montage, may indicate a location of the image/frame in the montage,may indicate annotations to the image/frame, and/or the like.

At block 2208, the system may create copy of the displayed image/framethat has been indicated by the user. In various implementations, theuser may indicate image characteristics to be applied to copy of theimage/frame, may indicate annotations to the image/frame, and/or thelike. In some implementations, an actual copy of the image/frame is notcreated, but rather data necessary to identify the indicated image/frameand update the indicated image/frame (e.g., with annotations, changedimage characteristics, etc.) is created and stored by the system in theseries/exam. This implementation may advantageously save data storesrequirements and/or bandwidth requirements as a copy of a highresolution image may not need to be stored/transferred. Rather, systemmay generate the “copy” of the image/frame based on the data and theoriginal copy of the image/frame when display is requested by the user.In some implementations the “copy” of the image/frame may be generatedpreemptively, prior to the user requesting to display the image/frame.

At block 2210, the system may insert the copy of the displayedimage/frame into the series/exam of the image/frame, or anotherseries/exam. As mentioned above, in some implementations only datanecessary to create the image/frame is generated and inserted into theseries/exam.

At block 2212, the images/frames, including the inserted copies, aresorted according to any other methods described here. For example, theinserted copy of the image/frame may be added to the series/exam at alocation following an original copy of the image/exam, as describedabove. In other implementations, the images/frames may be sorted inother ways.

The user may view the images/frames of the series/exam accordingly toany of the methods described herein. In some implementations, theindicated image/frame may be automatically processed in any other way bythe system, including by one or more CAP, as described herein.

Advantageously, according to certain embodiments, the original copies ofimages/frames may be preserved while updated copies of the images/frames(e.g., with annotations, with changed image characteristics, etc.) maybe added to series/exams automatically. Advantageously, according tocertain embodiments, frames may be extracted from multi-images andautomatically added to a series/exam for further review by a user.Advantageously, according to certain embodiments, images/frames of aseries/exam may be sorted for efficient review by a user.Advantageously, according to certain embodiments, the system mayaccordingly enable a user to efficiently review and compareimages/frames of a series/exam, including copies (which may beupdated/changed) of images/frames indicated by the user.

IX. EXAMPLE COMPUTING SYSTEMS

Referring again to FIG. 1, various configurations of the computingsystem 150 and network environment 100 may be used to implement and/oraccomplish the systems and methods disclosed herein. For example, thecomputing system 150 may be configured to display and/or enable a userto view and/or interact with various types of data includingtwo-dimensional images, three-dimensional volumes, and/or other types ofinformation, as described above.

As described above, the computing system may take various forms. In oneembodiment, the computing system 150 may be an information displaycomputing device and/or system, a server, a computer workstation, adesktop computer, a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS)workstation, a laptop computer, a mobile computer, a smartphone, atablet computer, a wearable computer (for example, a head-mountedcomputer and/or a computer in communication with a head-mounteddisplay), a smartwatch, a mobile computer, a cell phone, a personaldigital assistant, a gaming system, a kiosk, an audio player, and/or anyother device that utilizes a graphical user interface, such as officeequipment, automobiles, airplane cockpits, household appliances,automated teller machines, self-service checkouts at stores, informationand other kiosks, ticketing kiosks, vending machines, industrialequipment, and/or a television, for example. In an embodiment thecomputing system 150 comprises one or more computing devices incommunication with one another.

The computing system 150 may include various components including, forexample, one or more processors 152, memory and/or data storage 153(including one or more software modules 151 and/or a rules engine 163(which may itself comprise a software module)), an operating system 154,a display 155, one or more input devices 156, one or more interfaces157, an audio input/output 158, and/or one or more sensors 161(including, for example, zero or more motion sensors 159, zero or moreorientation sensors 160, and/or zero or more location sensors 162). Eachof the components of the computing system 150 may be connected and/or incommunication with each other using, for example, a standard based bussystem. In different embodiments, the standard based bus system could bePeripheral Component Interconnect (“PCI”), PCI Express, AcceleratedGraphics Port (“AGP”), Micro channel, Small Computer System Interface(“SCSI”), Industrial Standard Architecture (“ISA”) and Extended ISA(“EISA”) architectures, for example. In addition, the functionalityprovided for in the components and modules of computing system 150 (asdescribed above and below) may be combined into fewer components andmodules or further separated into additional components and modules.

In various embodiments the software modules 151 may providefunctionality as described above with reference to the various figures.For example, modules 151 of the computing system 150 may include userinput modules, image display modules, motion detection/determinationmodules, orientation detection/determination modules, positiondetection/determination modules, location detection/determinationmodules, patient information display modules, rules engine modules (forexample, rules engine 163), user interface modules, and/or the like. Forexample, each of the motion, orientation, position, and/or locationdetection/determination modules may determine user inputs and/orgestures such that the user may interact with medical images, asdescribed above. Further, the image display modules and/or the userinterface modules may display user interfaces, images, and/or other dataon the display 155 in response to user inputs (as described in referenceto various embodiments of the present disclosure). Further, the imagedisplay modules and/or the user interface modules may be configuredand/or designed to generate user interface data useable for renderingthe interactive user interfaces described herein, such as a webapplication and/or a dynamic web page displayed by a computing device.In various embodiments the user interface data may be used by thecomputing system 150, and/or communicated to any other computing device,such that the example user interfaces are displayed to a user. Forexample, the user interface data may be executed by a browser (and/orother software program) accessing a web service and configured to renderthe user interfaces based on the user interface data.

The rules engine 163 may operate in conjunction with the other modulesto perform various functionality of the data navigation systemsdescribed above. For example, the rules engine 163 may determine, basedon one or more rules of the user preferences and rules database 124,that a user input (e.g., a particular type of movement or input) is tobe translated into a particular adjustment of a displayed image and/orother data. Further, the rules engine 163 may determine, based on one ormore rules of the user preferences and rules database 124, certain typesof images are to be sorted (and/or selected for comparison) based oncertain attributes of those images, automatic selection of images forcomparison with a user selected image, preferences for registration ofsorted and/or comparison images, selection of CDS data, and/or the like.Such determinations may be based on, for example, a type of datadisplayed and/or an identify or characteristic associated with a user.As described above, rules of the user preferences and rules database 124that may be executed by the rules engine 163 may include sorting rules,matching rules, and/or any other types of rules.

As described below, the software modules 151 may include varioussoftware instructions, code, logic instructions, and/or the like thatmay be executed by the one or more processors 152 to accomplish thefunctionality described above. In other embodiments, software modules151 may reside on another computing device and/or system, such as a webserver or other server (for example, server 120) or other server, and auser may directly interact with a second computing device and/or systemthat is connected to the other computing device and/or system via acomputer network.

The computing system 150 may run an off-the-shelf operating system 154such as a Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, or iOS, or mobile versions ofsuch operating systems. The computing system 150 may also run a morespecialized operating system which may be designed for the specifictasks performed by the computing system 150, or any other availableoperating system.

The computing system 150 may include one or more computer processors152, for example, hardware computer processors. The computer processors152 may include central processing units (CPUs), and may further includededicated processors such as graphics processor chips, or otherspecialized processors. The processors may be used to execute computerinstructions based on the software modules 151 to cause the computingsystem 150 to perform operations as specified by the modules 151. Thesoftware modules 151 may include, by way of example, components, such assoftware components, object-oriented software components, classcomponents and task components, processes, functions, attributes,procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware,microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays,and variables. For example, modules may include software code written ina programming language, such as, for example, Java, Objective-C, Swift,JavaScript, ActionScript, Visual Basic, HTML, Lua, C, C++, or C#. While“modules” are generally discussed herein with reference to software, anymodules may alternatively be represented in hardware or firmware. Invarious embodiments, the modules described herein refer to logicalmodules that may be combined with other modules or divided intosub-modules despite their physical organization or storage.

The computing system 150 may also include memory 153. The memory 153 mayinclude volatile data storage such as RAM or SDRAM. The memory may alsoinclude more permanent forms of storage such as a hard disk drive, aflash disk, flash memory, a solid state drive, or some other type ofnon-volatile storage, as described below.

The computing system 150 may also include or be interfaced to one ormore display devices that provide information to the users. Displaydevices 155 may include a video display, such as one or morehigh-resolution computer monitors, or a display device integrated intoor attached to a laptop computer, handheld computer, smartphone,smartwatch, wearable computer, computer tablet device, or medicalscanner. In other embodiments, the display device 155 may include anLCD, OLED, or other thin screen display surface, a monitor, television,projector, a display integrated into wearable glasses, or any otherdevice that visually depicts user interfaces and data to viewers. Asdescribed above, images and other information may be displayed to theuser via the display devices 155 such that the user may efficiently viewand interact with such images and information.

The computing system 150 may also include or be interfaced to one ormore input devices 156 which receive input from users, such as akeyboard, trackball, mouse, 3D mouse, dial and/or knob (for example, asmartwatch crown), drawing tablet, joystick, game controller, touchsensitive surface (for example, capacitive or resistive touch screen),touchpad, accelerometer, video camera and/or microphone.

The computing system 150 may also include one or more interfaces 157which allow information exchange between the computing system 150 andother computers and input/output devices using systems such as Ethernet,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, as well as other wired and wireless datacommunications techniques.

The computing system 150 may include the audio input/output 158 forreceiving, for example, audio commands or other input from the user. Theaudio system may also provide audio output to provide audio informationto a user, for example via a speaker or headset. As described above,various sensors of the computing system 150 may include, for example,gyroscopes, accelerometers, cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS)transceivers and devices, near field communication (NFC) technologydevices, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device, systems anddevices utilizing WiFi, systems and devices utilizing Bluetooth such asiBeacons, and/or the like. The various sensors may provide input/data tothe computing system 150 related to the location, position, orientation,and/or motion of a user, a user's appendage (such as an arm and/orhand), and/or another input device operated by the user. Suchinformation may be processed by, for example, one or more softwaremodules 151 (such as the rules engine 163) as described above, such thatdisplayed image data (or other types of data) may be updated.Additionally, as described above, the system may also include, in someembodiments, external sensors 125 that may also provide data related touser inputs. External sensors 125 may include any of the sensorsdescribed herein, and may provide functionality similar to thatdescribed herein with reference to the various sensors. In variousembodiments, the functionality provided by image storage 122, server120, and/or CDS server 171, may reside within computing system 150.

The computing system 150 may communicate and/or interface with othersystems and/or devices. In one or more embodiments, the computing system150 may be connected to the computer network 190. The computer network190 may take various forms. For example, the computer network 190 may bea wired network or a wireless network, or it may be some combination ofboth. The computer network 190 may be a single computer network, or itmay be a combination or collection of different networks and networkprotocols. Additionally, the computer network 190 may include one ormore local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), personal areanetworks (PAN), cellular or data networks, and/or the Internet.

Various devices and subsystems may be connected to the network 190. Asshown in FIG. 1, for example, the computing system 150 may be incommunication with the image storage 122, the server 120, the externalsensor(s) 125, the imaging devices 170, and/or the CDS server 171. Imagestorage 122 may be a database, data store, and/or other electronic orcomputer-readable medium storage device configured to store, forexample, medical images and/or three-dimensional imaging data. Suchmedical images and/or three-dimensional imaging data may be processed,for example, by the server 120 and/or the computing system 150. Further,the various components of the network environment 100 may be incommunication with various other devices that may, for example, captureand provide images and/or other data to the computing system 150. Forexample, imaging devices 170 may include one or more medical scannersmay be connected, such as MRI scanners. The MRI scanner may be used toacquire MRI images from patients, and may share the acquired images withother devices on the network 190. The imaging devices 170 may alsoinclude one or more CT scanners and/or X-Ray scanners. The CT scannersand/or X-Ray scanners may also be used to acquire images and, like theMRI scanner, may then store those images and/or share those images withother devices via the network 190. Any other scanner or device capableof inputting or generating information that may be presented to the useras images, graphics, text or sound may be connected to the network 190,including, for example, computing systems used in the fields ofultrasound, angiography, nuclear medicine, radiography, endoscopy,pathology, dermatology, and the like.

Also connected to the network 190 may be a Picture Archiving andCommunications System (PACS) and/or PACS workstation. The PACS Systemmay be used for the storage, retrieval, distribution and presentation ofimages (such as those created and/or generated by the MRI scanner and/orCT Scanner). The medical images may be stored in an independent format,an open source format, or some other proprietary format. A common formatfor image storage in the PACS system is the Digital Imaging andCommunications in Medicine (DICOM) format. In various embodiments, thestored images may be transmitted digitally via the PACS system, oftenreducing or eliminating the need for manually creating, filing, ortransporting film jackets.

The network 190 may also be connected to a Radiology Information System(RIS). In an embodiment, the radiology information system may be acomputerized system that is used by radiology departments to store,manipulate and distribute patient radiological information.

Also attached to the network 190 may be an Electronic Medical Record(EMR) system. The EMR system may be configured to store and makeaccessible to a plurality of medical practitioners computerized medicalrecords. Also attached to the network 190 may be a LaboratoryInformation System. In an embodiment, the Laboratory Information Systemmay be a software system which stores information created or generatedby clinical laboratories. Also attached to the network 190 may be aDigital Pathology System that may be used to digitally manage and storeinformation related to medical pathology.

Also attached to the network 190 may be one or more Computer AidedDiagnosis Systems (CAD) systems that are generally used to performComputer-Aided Processing (CAP) such as, for example, CAD processes. Inone embodiment, the CAD systems functionality may reside in a computingdevice and/or system separate from computing system 150 while in anotherembodiment the CAD systems functionality may reside within computingsystem 150.

Also attached to the network 190 may be one or more Processing Systemsthat may be used to perform computerized advanced processing such as,for example, computations on imaging information to create new views ofthe information, for example, volume rendering and/or other types ofprocessing, for example image enhancement, volume quantification,blood-flow quantification, and the like. In one embodiment, suchprocessing functionality may reside in a computing device and/or systemseparate from computing system 150 while in another embodiment theprocessing functionality may reside within computing system 150.

In other embodiments, other computing devices and/or systems that store,provide, acquire, and/or otherwise manipulate medical data may also becoupled to the network 190 and may be in communication with one or moreof the devices illustrated in FIG. 1, such as with the computing system150.

Depending on the embodiment, other devices discussed herein may includesome or all of the same components discussed above with reference to thecomputing system 150 and may perform some or all of the functionalitydiscussed herein.

As mentioned above, various of the image storage 122, the server 120,the user preferences and rules database 124, the external sensor(s) 125,the imaging devices 170, the CDS server 171, and/or other componentsdescribed above may or may not be considered a part of the computingsystem 150. For example, in some embodiments one or more of thesecomponents may be implemented as part of the computing system 150, maybe in direct communication with the computing system 150, and/or may bein indirect communication (e.g., over network 190) with the computingsystem 150.

X. ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be a system, a method,and/or a computer program product at any possible technical detail levelof integration. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or mediums) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

For example, the functionality described herein may be performed assoftware instructions are executed by, and/or in response to softwareinstructions being executed by, one or more hardware processors and/orany other suitable computing devices. The software instructions and/orother executable code may be read from a computer readable storagemedium (or mediums).

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store data and/or instructions for use by an instructionexecution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, forexample, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device (includingany volatile and/or non-volatile electronic storage devices), a magneticstorage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storagedevice, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a solid state drive, a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory(SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanicallyencoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groovehaving instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, isnot to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radiowaves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagneticwaves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g.,light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signalstransmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions (as also referred to herein as,for example, “code,” “instructions,” “module,” “application,” “softwareapplication,” and/or the like) for carrying out operations of thepresent disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. Computer readable program instructions may be callable fromother instructions or from itself, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Computer readable program instructionsconfigured for execution on computing devices may be provided on acomputer readable storage medium, and/or as a digital download (and maybe originally stored in a compressed or installable format that requiresinstallation, decompression or decryption prior to execution) that maythen be stored on a computer readable storage medium. Such computerreadable program instructions may be stored, partially or fully, on amemory device (e.g., a computer readable storage medium) of theexecuting computing device, for execution by the computing device. Thecomputer readable program instructions may execute entirely on a user'scomputer (e.g., the executing computing device), partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments,electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logiccircuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logicarrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions byutilizing state information of the computer readable programinstructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order toperform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart(s) and/or block diagram(s)block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk or solid state drive of a remote computer. The remotecomputer may load the instructions and/or modules into its dynamicmemory and send the instructions over a telephone, cable, or opticalline using a modem. A modem local to a server computing system mayreceive the data on the telephone/cable/optical line and use a converterdevice including the appropriate circuitry to place the data on a bus.The bus may carry the data to a memory, from which a processor mayretrieve and execute the instructions. The instructions received by thememory may optionally be stored on a storage device (e.g., a solid statedrive) either before or after execution by the computer processor.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. In addition, certain blocks may be omitted insome implementations. The methods and processes described herein arealso not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or statesrelating thereto can be performed in other sequences that areappropriate.

It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts orcarry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions. For example, any of the processes, methods, algorithms,elements, blocks, applications, or other functionality (or portions offunctionality) described in the preceding sections may be embodied in,and/or fully or partially automated via, electronic hardware suchapplication-specific processors (e.g., application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs)), programmable processors (e.g., field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs)), application-specific circuitry, and/or the like(any of which may also combine custom hard-wired logic, logic circuits,ASICs, FPGAs, etc. with custom programming/execution of softwareinstructions to accomplish the techniques).

Any of the above-mentioned processors, and/or devices incorporating anyof the above-mentioned processors, may be referred to herein as, forexample, “computers,” “computer devices,” “computing devices,” “hardwarecomputing devices,” “hardware processors,” “processing units,” and/orthe like. Computing devices of the above-embodiments may generally (butnot necessarily) be controlled and/or coordinated by operating systemsoftware, such as Mac OS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows OS (e.g.,Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, WindowsServer, etc.), Windows CE, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, Blackberry OS,VxWorks, or other suitable operating systems. In other embodiments, thecomputing devices may be controlled by a proprietary operating system.Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processesfor execution, perform memory management, provide file system,networking, I/O services, and provide a user interface functionality,such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among other things.

As described above, in various embodiments certain functionality may beaccessible by a user through a web-based viewer (such as a web browser),or other suitable software program). In such implementations, the userinterface may be generated by a server computing system and transmittedto a web browser of the user (e.g., running on the user's computingsystem). Alternatively, data (e.g., user interface data) necessary forgenerating the user interface may be provided by the server computingsystem to the browser, where the user interface may be generated (e.g.,the user interface data may be executed by a browser accessing a webservice and may be configured to render the user interfaces based on theuser interface data). The user may then interact with the user interfacethrough the web-browser. User interfaces of certain implementations maybe accessible through one or more dedicated software applications. Incertain embodiments, one or more of the computing devices and/or systemsof the disclosure may include mobile computing devices, and userinterfaces may be accessible through such mobile computing devices (forexample, smartphones and/or tablets).

Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being amongother acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure. Theforegoing description details certain embodiments. It will beappreciated, however, that no matter how detailed the foregoing appearsin text, the systems and methods can be practiced in many ways. As isalso stated above, it should be noted that the use of particularterminology when describing certain features or aspects of the systemsand methods should not be taken to imply that the terminology is beingre-defined herein to be restricted to including any specificcharacteristics of the features or aspects of the systems and methodswith which that terminology is associated.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,”or “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise,is to be understood with the context as used in general to convey thatan item, term, etc. may be either X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof.For example, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not inits exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a listof elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements inthe list. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended toimply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least oneof Y, and at least one of Z to each be present.

The term “a” as used herein should be given an inclusive rather thanexclusive interpretation. For example, unless specifically noted, theterm “a” should not be understood to mean “exactly one” or “one and onlyone”; instead, the term “a” means “one or more” or “at least one,”whether used in the claims or elsewhere in the specification andregardless of uses of quantifiers such as “at least one,” “one or more,”or “a plurality” elsewhere in the claims or specification.

The term “comprising” as used herein should be given an inclusive ratherthan exclusive interpretation. For example, a general purpose computercomprising one or more processors should not be interpreted as excludingother computer components, and may possibly include such components asmemory, input/output devices, and/or network interfaces, among others.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it may beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or processes illustrated may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As may berecognized, certain embodiments of the inventions described herein maybe embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features andbenefits set forth herein, as some features may be used or practicedseparately from others. The scope of certain inventions disclosed hereinis indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A database computing system for processingdigital medical images, the computing system comprising: an electronicdisplay; an input device; a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium configured to store software instructions; and one or morecomputer processors in communication with the electronic display, theinput device, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the oneor more computer processors configured to execute the softwareinstructions in order to cause the computing system to: receive anindication of a selection of a first medical image of a first imageseries of a first medical exam associated with a patient, wherein thefirst image series includes a first plurality of medical images;determine, based on one or more matching rules, a comparison imageseries of a comparison medical exam for comparison with the first imageseries, wherein the comparison image series includes a second pluralityof comparison images, and wherein the comparison medical exam is alsoassociated with the patient and was acquired at a time different thanthe first medical exam; identify, based on one or more attributes of thefirst medical image, a first comparison image of the comparison imageseries for comparison with the first medical image; generate userinterface data useable for displaying a user interface on the electronicdisplay, the user interface including at least: the first medical imageof the first image series displayed in a first image pane in a firstlocation; and the first comparison image of the second image seriesdisplayed in a second image pane in a second location; in response to afirst user input indicating a direction of movement within the firstimage series: update the user interface data such that, in the userinterface, the first medical image is replaced with a second medicalimage of the first image series that is adjacent to the first medicalimage in the first image series, wherein the second medical imagereplaces the first medical image in the first image pane; identify,based on one or more attributes of the second medical image, a secondcomparison image of the comparison image series for comparison with thesecond medical image; and further update the user interface data suchthat, in the user interface, the first comparison image is replaced withthe second comparison image, wherein the second comparison imagereplaces the first comparison image in the second image pane; and inresponse to a second user input indicating selection of a second imageseries of the first medical exam: determine, based on one or moreattributes of the second medical image, a first medical image of thesecond image series for display; update the user interface data suchthat, in the user interface, the second medical image is replaced withthe first medical image of the second image series, wherein the firstmedical image of the second image series replaces the second medicalimage of the first image series in the first image pane; identify, basedon one or more attributes of the second image series, a secondcomparison image series of the comparison medical exam for comparisonwith the second image series; identify, based on one or more attributesof the first medical image of the second image series, a firstcomparison image of the second comparison image series for comparisonwith the first medical image of the second image series; and furtherupdate the user interface data such that, in the user interface, thesecond comparison image of the comparison image series is replaced withthe first comparison image of the second comparison image series,wherein the first comparison image of the second comparison image seriesreplaces the second comparison image of the comparison image series inthe second image pane.
 2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein thefirst comparison image of the comparison image series is furtheridentified based on one or more matching rules.
 3. The computing systemof claim 1, wherein the second comparison image of the comparison imageseries is further identified based on one or more matching rules.
 4. Thecomputing system of claim 1, wherein the first comparison image of thesecond comparison image series is further identified based on one ormore matching rules.
 5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein thefirst location of the first image pane and the second location of thesecond image pane are adjacent to one another.
 6. A database computingsystem for processing digital images, the computing system comprising:an electronic display; an input device; a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium configured to store softwareinstructions; and one or more computer processors in communication withthe electronic display, the input device, and the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the one or more computer processors configuredto execute the software instructions in order to cause the computingsystem to: display, on the electronic display, a first medical image ofa first image series of a first medical exam in a first image pane,wherein the first medical exam is associated with a patient; display, onthe electronic display, a first medical image of a comparison imageseries of a second medical exam in a second image pane, wherein thecomparison medical exam is also associated with the patient, wherein thesecond medical exam was acquired at a time different from the firstmedical exam, and wherein the first medical image of the comparisonimage series matches the first medical image of the first image seriesin at least one attribute such that the first medical image of the firstimage series and first medical image of the comparison image series maybe usefully compared for diagnosis; in response to a first user inputindicating a change from the first medical image of the first imageseries to another medical image of the first image series: replace, inthe first image pane, the first medical image of the first image serieswith the another medical image of the first image series; and replace,in the second image pane, the first medical image of the comparisonimage series with another medical image of the comparison image series,wherein the another medical image of the comparison image series matchesthe another medical image of the first image series in at least oneattribute such that the another medical image of the first image seriesand the another medical image of the comparison image series may beusefully compared for diagnosis; and in response to a second user inputindicating a change from the first image series of the first medicalexam to another image series of the first medical exam: replace, in thefirst image pane, the first medical image of the first image series withthe another medical image of the another image series of the firstmedical exam; and replace, in the second image pane, the first medicalimage of the comparison image series with another medical image ofanother image series of the second medical exam, wherein the anothermedical image of the another image series of the second medical exammatches the another medical image of the another image series of thefirst medical exam in at least one attribute such that the anothermedical image of the another image series of the first medical exam andthe another medical image of the another image series of the secondmedical exam may be usefully compared for diagnosis.
 7. The computingsystem of claim 6, wherein the one or more computer processors areconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to furthercause the computing system to: in response to a third user input, freezeat least the second image pane such that a medical image displayed inthe second image pane is not replaced in response to the first and/orsecond user inputs.
 8. The computing system of claim 6, wherein thefirst and second image panes are adjacent to one another.
 9. Thecomputing system of claim 6, wherein the second medical exam wasacquired before the first medical exam.
 10. A method comprising: by oneor more computer processors configured to execute software instructions:displaying, on an electronic display, a first medical image of a firstimage series of a first medical exam in a first image pane, wherein thefirst medical exam is associated with a patient; displaying, on theelectronic display, a first medical image of a comparison image seriesof a second medical exam in a second image pane, wherein the comparisonmedical exam is also associated with the patient, wherein the secondmedical exam was acquired at a time different from the first medicalexam, and wherein the first medical image of the comparison image seriesmatches the first medical image of the first image series in at leastone attribute such that the first medical image of the first imageseries and first medical image of the comparison image series may beusefully compared for diagnosis; in response to a first user inputindicating a change from the first medical image of the first imageseries to another medical image of the first image series: replacing, inthe first image pane, the first medical image of the first image serieswith the another medical image of the first image series; and replacing,in the second image pane, the first medical image of the comparisonimage series with another medical image of the comparison image series,wherein the another medical image of the comparison image series matchesthe another medical image of the first image series in at least oneattribute such that the another medical image of the first image seriesand the another medical image of the comparison image series may beusefully compared for diagnosis; and in response to a second user inputindicating a change from the first image series of the first medicalexam to another image series of the first medical exam: replacing, inthe first image pane, the first medical image of the first image serieswith the another medical image of the another image series of the firstmedical exam; and replacing, in the second image pane, the first medicalimage of the comparison image series with another medical image ofanother image series of the second medical exam, wherein the anothermedical image of the another image series of the second medical exammatches the another medical image of the another image series of thefirst medical exam in at least one attribute such that the anothermedical image of the another image series of the first medical exam andthe another medical image of the another image series of the secondmedical exam may be usefully compared for diagnosis.
 11. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising: by the one or more computer processorsconfigured to execute software instructions: in response to a third userinput, freezing at least the second image pane such that a medical imagedisplayed in the second image pane is not replaced in response to thefirst and/or second user inputs.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein thefirst and second image panes are adjacent to one another.
 13. The methodof claim 10, wherein the second medical exam was acquired before thefirst medical exam.
 14. A database computing system for processingdigital medical images, the computing system comprising: an electronicdisplay; an input device; a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium configured to store software instructions; and one or morecomputer processors in communication with the electronic display, theinput device, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the oneor more computer processors configured to execute the softwareinstructions in order to cause the computing system to: access aplurality of medical images associated with a plurality of medical examsof a patient; analyze the plurality of medical images to determine, foreach medical image, respective attributes of the medical images; sortthe plurality of medical images into a plurality of image series basedon the attributes of the medical images, wherein the plurality of imageseries includes at least a first image series and a second image series;analyzing the first and second image series to determine pairs ofmedical images of the respective image series that are related to oneanother; generate user interface data useable for displaying a userinterface on the electronic display, the user interface including atleast: a first medical image of the first image series displayed in afirst image pane in a first location; and a first medical image of thesecond image series displayed in a second image pane in a secondlocation; and in response to a first user input indicating a directionof movement within the first image series: update the user interfacedata such that, in the user interface, the first medical image of thefirst image series is replaced with a second medical image of the firstimage series that is adjacent to the first medical image of the firstimage series in the first image series, wherein the second medical imageof the first image series replaces the first medical image in the firstimage pane; identify, based on one or more attributes of the secondmedical image of the first image series, a second medical image of thesecond image series for comparison with the second medical image of thefirst image series; and further update the user interface data suchthat, in the user interface, the first medical image of the second imageseries is replaced with the second medical image of the second imageseries, wherein the second medical image of the second image seriesreplaces the first medical image of the second image series in thesecond image pane.
 15. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the oneor more computer processors are further configured to execute thesoftware instructions in order to cause the computing system to: inresponse to a second user input indicating a direction of movementwithin the first image series: update the user interface data such that,in the user interface, the first medical image of the first image seriesis replaced with a second medical image of the first image series thatis adjacent to the first medical image of the first image series in thefirst image series, wherein the second medical image of the first imageseries replaces the first medical image in the first image pane;determine, based on one or more attributes of the second medical imageof the first image series, that no medical image of the second imageseries corresponding to the second medical image of the first imageseries exists; and further update the user interface data such that, inthe user interface, the first medical image of the second image seriesis replaced with a placeholder in the second image pane.
 16. Thecomputing system of claim 15, wherein the placeholder comprises at leastone of a blank image or an absence of an image.
 17. The computing systemof claim 14, wherein analyzing the plurality of medical images todetermine, for each medical image, respective attributes of the medicalimages comprises: analyzing the plurality of medical images todetermine, for each medical image, respective view types of the medicalimages;
 18. The computing system of claim 14, wherein each image seriesof the plurality of image series comprises a series of medical imageshaving a common view type
 19. The computing system of claim 14, whereinthe plurality of medical images comprise chest radiograph images. 20.The computing system of claim 14, wherein analyzing the first and secondimage series to determine pairs of medical images of the respectiveimage series that are related to one another comprises: analyzing thefirst and second image series to determine pairs of medical images ofthe respective image series that are from a same exam and/or acquired ata similar time.
 21. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the one ormore computer processors are further configured to execute the softwareinstructions in order to cause the computing system to: determine thefirst and second locations of the respective first and second imagepanes based on one or more user preferences.
 22. The computing system ofclaim 14, wherein the one or more computer processors are furtherconfigured to execute the software instructions in order to cause thecomputing system to: determine an association between the first imagepane and the first image series based on one or more user preferences.23. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the one or more computerprocessors are further configured to execute the software instructionsin order to cause the computing system to: registering the medicalimages of the first image series so as to enable efficient comparison ofthe medical images of the first image series.